Women and Marital Breakdown in South India : Reconstructing Homes, Bonds and Persons

Women and Marital Breakdown in South India: Reconstructing Homes, Bonds and Persons is an ethnographic analysis of the situation of divorced and separated women and their families in the South Indian city of Bangalore. The study is based on 16 months of anthropological fieldwork, i.e., participant observation and life history interviews among 50 divorced and separated women from different socio-religious backgrounds in their homes, in the women s organisations and in the Family Court. The study follows the divorced and separated women from their natal homes to their affinal homes through homelessness and legal battles to their reconstructed natal, affinal or single homes in order to find out what it means to be a person within hierarchical gender and kinship relations in South India. Marital breakdown impacts on kin relations and discloses the existing gender relations and power structure through its consequences. It makes the transformability of relational personhood as well as the transformability of relational society and culture visible. Although the study reveals the painful history of women s ill-treatment in marriage, family and kinship systems, it also demonstrates the women s rejection of the domination; and shows their ability to re-negotiate and promote changes not only to their own positions but to the whole hierarchical system as well. The study explores the divorced and separated women s manifold dilemmas, complicated legal battles, and endless arrangements when they have to struggle with the very practical problems of supporting themselves financially, finding and making a new home for themselves, and re-arranging relationships with their kin and friends. As marital breakdown fundamentally transforms the women s relational field, it forces them to recreate substitutive relations in a flexible way and, simultaneously, to re-construct themselves and their lives without a ready or positive cultural or behavioural template. This process reveals the agency of the divorced and separated women as well as shedding light on issues of gender and the cultural construction of the person in South India. This topical study explores the previously neglected subject of marital breakdown in India and shows the new meaning of kinship in South India.

"Elämää yhdellä siivellä lentäen" : Suomessa asuvien Chilen pakolaisten ja heidän jälkeläistensä historiatietoisuus

The starting point of this study was to find out how the historical consciousness manifest in conceptions and experiences of Chilean refugees and their descendants. The previous research of historical consciousness has shown that powerful experiences such as the revolution and being a refugee may have an effect on historical consciousness. The purpose of this study is to solve how those experiences in the past have influenced Chilean refugees and their descendant s interpretations of the present and expectations for the future. The research material was collected by interviewing four Chilean refugees that escaped to Finland in years 1973 1976 and four young adults who represent the second generation. All second generation interviewees were born in Finland and their other parent or both parents were Chilean refugees. The two groups were not in a family relation to each other. The empirical part of the research was made by qualitative methods. The research material was collected by the method of focused interview and it was analysed by the qualitative data analysis software Atlas.ti 6.0. Content analysis was the main research tool. The previous theory of historical consciousness and the study questions was used to create the seven categories that manifest historical consciousness. The seven categories were biographical memory, collective memory, experiences of living between two cultures, idea of man, the essence of history and the reason for living, value conceptions and expectations of the future. Content analysis was based on those categories. Subcategories were based on the research material and were created during the analysis. The results of this study were made up of categories. The study revealed that experiences of revolution and of being a refugee has a significant role in the historical consciousness of the Chilean refugees. It became evident in their biographical memory being separated in three parts, in their values and in the belief of possibility of an individual to govern her own life. The second generation was also exposed to their parent s experiences in the past. The collective trauma in their parent s past has been part of their life indirectly and has affected the way they think of themselves, their concepts and their place in the present world. The active and regular retrospection in Finland by Chilean adults and special Gabriela Mistral club activities has played a big part in the construction of their historical consciousness.

"Ei sitä ainakaan helpommaksi tehdä sairaan opiskelijan elämää" : Pitkäaikaissairaiden kokemuksia korkeakoulutuksen esteistä ja mahdollisuuksista

This study examines the experiences of students with chronic illnesses in higher education. I chose to study rheumatic and other musculoskeletal diseases because they are group of diseases that are nationally significant in Finland. From students experiences I do interpretation of their agency. My research problems are: What kind of obstacles and possibilities student with chronic illness experiences in studying? What kind of obstacles illness set up for the agency or does it set any? How agency of student with chronic illness shows in the context of the university? I collected the data by using interview and focus group method. Additionally I had different kinds of documents of accessibility and equality in the university. Interviews were like halfstructured theme and open interviews. Focus group method I have applied. All the people that participated in the study were students from the university of Helsinki. They all have rheumatic or other musculoskeletal diseases. I have five interviewees and the group consisted of two people and the researcher. In the data analysis I use categorizing by the themes. Students that participated in my study spoke about their pain related experiences of their illness which also connected to their experiences of the higher education. Students agencies were limited the more they experienced pain. Pain forces students to certain activity one actions avoidance and another s favouring. If part-time studying would have been possible economically, it would have made the life easier for a part of the students. Students were aware of the available resources of their body for some of the students illness and life control set challenge and for some it set conditions. Students thought that university education is more possible to them than vocational education. Students didn t feel their own body limited in the context of university that emphasize intellectual and knowledge connected values and some of the students had reversed their illness as a resource of studying. However students felt their illness as a private matter and they considered illness profit and disadvantage before telling about it, which I interpretated limiting students agencies. In the university terms of students agencies were bond to individuality that came up in positive and negative. Freedom of studying was positive but official and individual study accommodations made agency bounded. Majority of the students didn t see possibilities to do differently in the university s practice but some of the students had recognised values underneath the practices that made it possible to reflect them, do differently and made space for agency.

Sosiaalisen elämän persoonallis-onttinen luonne : Tutkielma Lutherin alkutilaopista

Tämän tutkimuksen tehtävänä oli selvittää, ovatko sosiaaliset järjestykset Martti Lutherin (1483-1546) mukaan Jumalan erityisesti asettamia. Johdannossa luotiin katsaus moderniin Luther-tutkimukseen. Aikaisemmassa tutkimuksessa havaittiin vallitsevan erimielisyyttä siitä, ovatko sosiaaliset järjestykset Jumalan erityisesti asettamia luomisjärjestyksiä (Schöpfungsordnungen), vai ovatko ne Jumalasta vain välillisesti riippuvaisia, järjen vapaasti muutettavissa olevia sosiaalisen elämän muotoja. Lutherin mukaan ihmisen elämälle on luonteenomaista osallisuus kolmesta sosiaalisesta järjestyksestä. Liittyen keskiaikaiseen käsitykseen Luther puhuu kirkon (ecclesia), perheen (oeconomia) ja yhteiskunnan (politia) järjestyksistä, joista kaksi edellistä olivat olemassa jo alkutilassa. Yhteiskunta sai alkunsa vasta syntiinlankeemuksen jälkeen. Tässä tutkimuksessa ihmisen sosiaalisen elämän tarkastelu rajattiin koskemaan alkutilan sosiaalisia järjestyksiä. Tutkimus suoritettiin kaksiosaisesti. Ensimmäisessä pääjaksossa selvitettiin, minkälainen ontologinen luonne ihmisen sosiaalisella elämällä on. Luther ymmärtää teologian tehtävän kaksiosaisesti Jumalan ja ihmisen tuntemiseksi (cognitio Dei et hominis). Teologia ja erityisesti Raamattu sisältävät Lutherin mukaan luonnon kaikkia aspekteja koskevaa tietoa. Tästä syystä immanenttiin todellisuuteen kuuluvien sosiaalisten järjestysten rajaaminen teologisen tiedon ulkopuolelle ei ole perusteltua. Karl Hollin Luther-tulkinnan tavoin tutkimuksessa havaittiin, että ihmisen ja Jumalan suhde perustuu tahdonyhteyteen, josta seuraa ihmisessä Jumalan sana vaikutuksesta syntyvä usko. Tahdonyhteyden johdosta ihminen tulee osalliseksi Jumalan persoonallisista ominaisuuksista siten, että Jumalan mielenliikkeet heijastuvat ihmisen psyykkisiin ominaisuuksiin. Erityisesti tahdon ja järjen alueilla tapahtuvaa partisipaatiota jumalalliseen luontoon voidaan luonnehtia persoonallis-onttiseksi. Persoonallis-onttinen partisipaatio vaikuttaa sekä ihmisen yksilölliseen elämäntodellisuuteen Jumalan kuvana (imago Dei) että yhteisölliseen elämäntodellisuuteen sosiaalisissa järjestyksissä. Toisessa pääjaksossa havaittiin, että kirkko ja perhe ovat Jumalan erityisillä asetussanoilla perustamia sosiaalisia järjestyksiä, joita voidaan kutsua luomisjärjestyksiksi. Sosiaalisina järjestyksinä kirkko ja perhe eivät kuulu Jumalan inhimilliselle järjelle antaman valtuutuksen (mandatum Dei) piiriin. Saman luonteiseen Jumalan käskyyn (mandatum) perustuva kirkko on järjestys (institutio), joka antaa Jumalan sanan voimalla ihmisen "juopuneelle" mielelle muodon (forma). Kirkko ylläpitää ihmisen persoonallis-onttista partisipaatiota sakramentin ja saarnan välityksellä. Jumalanpalveluksesta Jumala puhuttelee ihmistä inhimillisellä kielellä, antaen muodon sekä ihmisen uskolle että immanentit elämänalueet käsittävälle ulkoiselle kuuliaisuudelle. Sosiaaliset normit syntyvät, kun Jumala puhuttelee ihmistä kirkossa. Perheen havaittiin olevan Jumalan asettama sosiaalinen järjestys (institutio), jonka piiriin kuuluvat miehen ja naisen välisen avioliiton lisäksi taloudellinen toiminta ja kasvatus. Avioliitto on luonteeltaan pyhä ja Jumalan käskyyn perustuva. Perhe mahdollistaa ihmisen lisääntymisen, antaen ulkoiselle työlle ja lasten kasvatukselle sosiaalisen struktuurin. Perheen piiriin kuuluva elämä on riippuvainen kirkosta, sillä jumalanpalveluksen ja saarnaviran välittämä Jumalan sana antaa perheessä tapahtuvalle ulkoiselle kuuliaisuudelle muodon. Perhe on riippuvainen persoonallis-onttisesta partisipaatiosta. Tämä ilmenee myös siten, että langenneessa tilassa perhettä koskeva tieto on riippuvainen teologiasta.

Kohti yksilöllistyvää perhettä? Perhe, sukupuoli ja seksuaalisuus suomalaisessa lainsäädäntökeskustelussa 2000-luvulla

Tutkielmassa tarkastellaan suomalaisessa yhteiskunnassa esiintyviä käsityksiä perheestä, keskittyen erityisesti siihen miten perheen, sukupuolen ja seksuaalisuuden käsitteitä määriteltiin ja tuotettiin diskursiivisesti eduskunnan lainsäädäntökeskusteluissa 2000-luvun kuluessa. Tutkimusongelmaa lähestytään eduskunnassa vuonna 2000 ja 2001 käytyjen parisuhdelaki- ja vuonna 2005 käytyjen hedelmöityshoitolakikeskustelujen sekä vuonna 2009 parisuhdelain 9§:n muutoksesta käytyjen keskusteluiden kautta. Keskusteluja analysoidaan diskurssianalyysin avulla siitä lähtökohdasta käsin, että eduskunnassa käytyjen keskustelujen kautta osallistutaan yhteiskunnallisen todellisuuden rakentamiseen ja määrittelyyn. Eduskunnassa käydyillä keskusteluilla ja itse lainsäädännöllä voidaankin näin ollen katsoa olevan huomattavia ideologisia vaikutuksia yhteiskunnalle, liittyen esimerkiksi erilaisten perhemallien arvostukseen, sukupuolten väliseen tasa-arvoon ja seksuaalivähemmistöjen oikeuksiin. Tutkimuksen perusteella voidaan lakiesitysten vastustajien ja puolustajien puheiden nähdä muodostavan varsin johdonmukaiset ja yhtenäiset, toisilleen vastakkaiset diskursiiviset kokonaisuudet. Puheesta löydettyjen diskurssien perusteella tutkielmassa on erotettu toisistaan konservatiivis-normatiiviseksi ja liberaalis-individualistiseksi nimitetyt diskursiiviset kokonaisuudet. Konservatiivis-normatiivisen diskursiivisen kokonaisuuden kautta ainoastaan heteroseksuaaliseen avioliittoon pohjaava ydinperhe nähtiin oikeana ja hyväksyttävänä perheenä. Tällaista perhettä pidettiin luonnollisena ja ehdottomana. Sen nähtiin perustuvan ulkopuoliseen kontrolliin sekä perinteestä johdettuihin sääntöihin ja varmuuksiin. Sukupuoli ymmärrettiin olemukselliseksi ja biologiaan perustuvaksi tilaksi. Sukupuoli jaettiin lisäksi puheessa kahtia ja sukupuolet nähtiin merkittävällä tavalla toisistaan eroaviksi. Lisäksi puheessa ylläpidettiin heteronormia erottamalla normaali ja luonnollinen heteroseksuaalisuus epänormaalista, epäluonnollisesta ja epäterveestä homoseksuaalisuudesta. Liberaalis-individualistisessa diskursiivisessa kokonaisuudessa perhemuodot nähtiin sitä vastoin moninaisina ja erilaiset perhemallit yhtä hyväksyttävinä ja tuettavina. Perheen katsottiin pohjaavan vapaaehtoisuuteen sekä yksilöiden väliseen tunnesiteeseen ja rakkauteen. Sukupuolia ei määritelty toisistaan eroaviksi eikä sukupuolta pidetty merkityksellisenä perheen tai vanhemmuuden käsitteiden kannalta. Sukupuoli nähtiin biologian sijaan sosiaalisesti ja performatiivisesti tuotetuksi. Puheessa pyrittiin lisäksi purkamaan heteronormia korostamalla hetero- ja homoseksuaalisuuden yhdenvertaisuutta ja samanlaisuutta. Lakiesityksen vastustajien näkemysten ja käsitysten voidaankin nähdä edustavan yhteiskunnan perinteisiksi miellettyjä, jo kauan vallalla olleita arvoja ja näkökulmia. Puolustajien puhe taas heijastaa uusia arvoja ja näkemyksiä, jotka mahdollisesti ovat valtaamassa paikkaansa vanhemmilta näkemyksiltä suomalaisessa yhteiskunnassa.

Elämää suuremmat sankarittaret : Suomalaisen teatterin elämäkerralliset taiteilijahahmot vuosina 2000 - 2010

In the first decade of the 21st century, national notables were a significant theme in the Finnish theatre. The lives of artists, in particular, inspired the performances that combined historical and fictional elements. In this study, I focus on the characters of female artists in 18 Finnish plays or performances from the first decade of the 21st century. The study pertains to the field of performance analysis. I approach the characters from three points of view. Firstly, I examine them through the action of performances at the thematic level. Secondly, I concentrate on the forms of relationships between the audience and the half-historical character. Thirdly, I examine the representations of characters and their relationships to the audience using myth as a tool. I approach characters from the frame of feminist phenomenological theatre study but also combine the points of view of other traditions. As a model, I adapt the approach of the theatre researcher Bert O. States, which concentrates on the relation between a play s text and an actor, and between an actor and the public. Furthermore, I use the analysing tools of performance art in an examination of performances counted among the contemporary performance genre. The biographical plays about these artists are concentrated in the domestic sphere and take part in the conversation about the position of women in both the community and private life. They represent the heroines work, love, temptations and hardships. The artists do not carry out heroic acts, being more like everyday heroines whose lives and art were shared with the audience in an aphoristic atmosphere. In the examined performances, criticism of the heterosexual matrix was mainly conservative and the myths of female and male artists differed from each other: the woman artist was presented as a super heroine whose strength often meant sacrifices; the male artist was a weaker figure primarily pursuing his individualistic objectives. The performances proved to be a kind of documentary theatre, a hybrid of truth and fiction. Nonetheless, the constructions of subject and identity mainly represented the characters of the mythical stories and only secondarily gave a faithful rendition of the artists lives. Although these performances were addressed to the general and heterogeneous public, their audience proved to be a strictly predefined group, for which the national myths and the experience of a collective identity emerged as an important theme. The heroine characters offered the audience "safe" idols who ensured the solidity of the community. These performances contained common, shared values and gave the audience an opportunity to feel empathy and to be charmed by the confessions of well-known national characters.

"Oma entinen on palannut takaisin elämään" : Kuntoutuksen vaikuttavuus aikuisena kuuroutuneiden henkilöiden elämänhallintaan ja psykososiaaliseen hyvinvointiin

Objective The objective of this study was to learn about the psychosocial well-being and life management of Finnish adults with late deafness or hearing loss and to observe the effectiveness of the rehabilitation courses they participated in. Methods For my study I used indicators which were suitable for the evaluation of life management and psychosocial well-being of late-deafened adults. The first part of the study was conducted during 2009 as a questionnaire on three rehabilitation courses in Kopola, a course center of the Finnish Federation of Hard of Hearing. The follow-up study was done at the third period of the courses during 2009 2010. The questionnaire contained both open and structured questions. The questionnaire consisted of five areas concerning life management and psychosocial well-being: sense of coherence (life management), human relations and social support, mood, self-esteem and satisfaction with life. I also asked the participants to reflect on their experiences of group rehabilitation. Results and conclusions The participants consisted of seven women and three men. They were approximately 63 years old and were all retired. Loss of hearing was described to have affected their social life, free time, and in general made their lives more difficult. From the course the participants hoped to gain new skills such as signed speech and lip-reading, uplift their mood, accept their loss of hearing and experience peer support. After the courses they replied that they had more close relations with whom they also were a little more in contact with. More participants were satisfied with e.g. their ability to take care of themselves, their free time, financial situation, family life, mental resources and physical shape. Majority of the participants showed symptoms of depression when the courses started, but at the end of the courses these signs had moderated or disappeared for most of them. The participants felt that during the rehabilitation they had been heard, respected, accepted and been taken care of. The course provided the possibility for confiding, and the discussions gave the participants support and consolidation. In conclusion, the course affected positively on the acclimatization to the hearing loss and the empowerment of the participants. The results of this study can be utilized in disability services, the development of rehabilitation and in the social- and health services of senior citizens.

"Ei rahaa, vaan elämää varten" : vapaaehtoisia eläkevakuutuksia koskenut poliittinen keskustelu 1995 - 2005.

Vapaaehtoinen eläkesäästäminen on yleistynyt voimakkaasti 1990- ja 2000-luvulla. Yksityishenkilöiden huoli omasta taloudesta demografisten haasteiden edessä on voimistunut. Säästämisen syyt ovat moninaiset: suurin osa haluaa varautua vanhuuden päiviin, osa haluaa hyötyä veroedusta ja osa kokee vakuutuksen sijoitusmuotona muiden joukossa. Yksityisen henkilön eläkesäästäminen poikkeaa kuitenkin muista säästämismuodoista poliittisen luonteensa vuoksi. Eläkesäästämisen poikkeavalla verokohtelulla on pyritty kannustamaan ihmisiä paikkaamaan tulevaisuuden lakisääteisten eläkkeiden pienuutta sekä samalla pyritty ohjaamaan eläkkeelle jäämisen ikää. Tutkimusaiheena on vapaaehtoinen eläkesäästäminen ja sen verokohtelussa tapahtuneet muutokset lamavuosien jälkeisestä ajasta, vuodesta 1995 aina vuoden 2005 työeläkelainsäädännön kokonaisuudistukseen asti, jolloin uudistettiin myös vapaaehtoista eläkesäästämistä koskeva lainsäädäntö. Keskeinen tutkimuskysymys on, miten poliittisessa keskustelussa on perusteltu vapaaehtoisen eläkesäästämisen poikkeuksellista tukemista. Työn keskeinen aineisto käsittää tutkimuskirjallisuuden lisäksi valtiopäiväasiakirjoja aikaväliltä 1995- 2005 sekä valiokuntien ja työryhmien mietintöjä ja raportteja. Lisäksi työssä on tutkittu sanomalehdistöä sekä vakuutusalan vaikutusta keskusteluun haastattelujen avulla. Aineiston lukutapana on löyhästi käytetty poliittisen retoriikan tutkimusta. Työn keskeinen tutkimustulos on hyvinvointivaltion kehityksen ja eläkepolitiikan liittyminen toisiinsa vakuutuksen välityksellä. Demografiset paineet ja julkinen keskustelu ovat lisänneet kansalaisten huolta omasta eläkeajan toimeentulosta. Kun hyvinvointivaltion rahoitusmahdollisuuksiin ei enää luoteta, on tarve omiin ratkaisuihin lisääntynyt. Perustelut koskien vapaaehtoisen eläkesäästämisen poikkeavaa verokohtelua ovat olleet sekä poliittisia että taloudellisia. Poliittisesta keskustelusta on erotettavissa kolme selkeää perusteluryhmää. Ensimmäinen argumentaatioryhmä korostaa demografisia haasteita, toinen sijoitustuotteiden tasa-arvoistamista ja kolmas eläkevakuutuksen täydentävää roolia lakisääteisen eläkkeen rinnalla.

Elämää keskustassa ja kaupunkiseudun reunoilla. Urbaani ja jälkiesikaupungillinen elämäntyyli asumisen valinnoissa ja arkiliikkumisessa Helsingin seudulla.

The lifestyles of people living in single-family housing areas on the outskirts of the Greater Helsinki Region (GHR) are different from those living in inner city area. The urban structure of the GHR is concentrated in the capital on the one hand, and spread out across the outskirts on the other. Socioeconomic spatial divisions are evident as well-paid and educated residents move to the inner city or the single-family house dominated suburban neighbourhoods depending on their housing preferences and life situations. The following thesis explores how these lifestyles have emerged through the housing choices and daily mobility of the residents living in the new single-family housing areas on the outskirts of the GHR and the inner city. The study shows that, when it comes to lifestyles, residents on the outskirts of the region have different housing preferences and daily mobility patterns when compared with their inner city counterparts. Based on five different case study areas my results show that these differences are related to residents values, preferences and attitudes towards the neighbourhood, on the one hand, and limited by urban structure on the other. This also confirms earlier theoretical analyses and findings from the GHR. Residents who moved to the outskirts of Greater Helsinki Region and the apartment buildings of the inner city were similar in the basic elements of their housing preferences: they sought a safe and peaceful neighbourhood close to the natural environment. However, where housing choices, daily mobility and activities vary different lifestyles develop in both the outskirts and the inner city. More specifically, lifestyles in the city apartment blocks were inherently urban. Liveliness and highest order facilities were appreciated and daily mobility patterns were supported by diverse modes of transportation for the purposes of work, shopping and leisure time. On the outskirts, by contrast, lifestyles were largely post-suburban and child-friendliness appreciated. Due to the heterachical urban structure, daily mobility was more car-dependent since work, shopping and free time activities of the residents are more spread around the region. The urban structure frames the daily mobility on the outskirts of the region, but this is not to say that short local trips replace longer regional ones. This comparative case study was carried out in the single-family housing areas of Sundsberg in Kirkkonummi, Landbo in Helsinki and Ylästö in Vantaa, as well as in the inner city apartment building areas of Punavuori and Katajanokka in Helsinki. The data is comprised of residential surveys, interviews, and statistics and GIS data sets that illustrate regional daily mobility, socio-economic structure and vis-à-vis housing stock.

Shooting from the Wild Zone : A Study of the Chicana Art Photographers Laura Aguilar, Celia Álvarez Muñoz, Delilah Montoya, and Kathy Vargas

The dissertation analyzes and elaborates upon the changing map of U.S. ethno-racial formation from the vantage point of North American Studies, multi-disciplinary cultural studies, and the criticism of visual culture. The focus is on four contemporary Mexican American (Chicana) women photographers, whose art production is discussed, on the one hand, in the context of the Euro-American history of photographic genres and, on the other hand, in the context of so-called decolonizing cultural and academic discourses produced by Mexican Americans themselves. The manuscript consists of two parts. Part I outlines the theoretical and methodological domain of the study, positioning it in the interstices of American studies, European postmodern criticism, postcolonial feminist theory, and the theories of visual culture, particularly of art photography. In addition, the main issues and paradigms of Chicano Studies (Mexican American ethnic studies) are introduced. Part II consists of seven essays, each of which discusses rather independently a particular photographic work or a series of photographs, formulating and defending arguments about their meaning, position in the history of photographic genres, and their cultural and socio-political significance. The study closes with a discussion about ethno-racial identity formation and the role of Chicana photography therein - in embodying and reproducing new subjectivities, alternative categories of knowledge, and open ended historical narratives. It is argued that, symbolically, the "Wild Zone" of gendered and race-specific knowledge becomes associated with the body of the mother, a recurrent image in Chicana art works under discussion. Embedded in this image, the construction of an alternative notion of a family thus articulates the parameters of a matrifocal ethno-racial community unified by the proliferation of differences rather than by conformities typical of nationalistic ideologies. While focusing on art photography, the study as a whole simultaneously constructs, from a European vantage point, a "thick" description of Mexican American history, identities, communities, cultural practices, and self-representations about which very little is known in Finland.

Changing Lived Worlds of Contemporary Amazonian Native Young People : Manchineri Youths in the Reserve and the City, Brazil-Acre

This thesis discusses the contemporary construction of the lived worlds of indigenous Amazonian youths. Today’s native peoples are considerably affected by the processes of globalization and urbanization, which have led to new ways of relating to their cultural traditions. This work presents a case study of Manchineri youngsters aged between 14 and 24 years old living in Acre state in Brazilian Amazonia. The Arawak-speaking Manchineri number some 1,000 people; their legally demarcated reserve is situated next to the River Yaco. The research is based on ethnographic material collected in the Mamoadate reserve and in the state capital, Rio Branco. By comparing the youth in different physical and social environments (the reserve and the city), my attempt has been to search for the most typical elements maintained, altered and created in the current lived worlds of Manchineri youths. Fieldwork methods included interviews, participant observation, photographs, video recordings, and drawings. The material was analyzed within the multidisciplinary framework of the social and cultural construction of knowledge. The study applies the concepts of social field, symbolic capital, and habitus as they have been used by Pierre Bourdieu; perspective as developed recently in Amazonian ethnology; the sacred as a cultural category as understood in the study of religion; and individual and person as concepts central to anthropology and sociology. Additionally, the study can be contextualized within youth studies, Latin American studies, and urban studies. The results of the study show that the everyday lives of young Amazonian native people are formed by a complex mixture of ‘modernity’ and ‘tradition’, fragmentation, and transitions between different conceptual frameworks. Part II discusses the ethnographic material in depth and shows that indigenous adolescents act from a variety of social perspectives: the native youth’s own ethnic group, divided into sub-groups, especially into urban residents and those living in the reserve; ancestors, super-human agents and spirits; other indigenous groups and non-natives. Consequently, besides the traditional initiation ritual, we find various contemporary rites of passage to adulthood: state-education, learning traditional practices, shamanism, matrimony, and transitions between the reserve and urban areas. According to these results, new social roles, political organization, responsibilities, and in general the desire to be respected, require both ‘modern’ and ‘traditional’ abilities. In Part III, the study shows that the current power relations constituted by new social contacts, ethnic recognition, and cooperation with different institutions have resulted in the formation of new social fields: youth cultures, the ethnic group, shamanic practices, the ethnopolitical movement, and indigenous students. The capacity of young Amazonian Indians to act in contemporary social fields produces them as full persons. The study also argues that the elements of the lived worlds can be divided into these social fields. When focusing on these fields, it became evident that these comprise the strategies adopted by young Indians to break through social and cultural barriers.

Disabled Revolutionary War Veterans and the Construction of Disability in the Early United States, c. 1776-1840

This thesis addresses the following broad research question: what did it mean to be a disabled Revolutionary War veteran in the early United States during the period from 1776 to roughly 1840? The study approaches the question from two angles: a state-centred one and an experiential one. In both cases, the theoretical framework employed comes from disability studies. Consequently, disability is regarded as a sociocultural phenomenon rather than a medical condition. The state-centred dimension of the study explores the meaning of disability and disabled veterans to the early American state through an examination of the major military pension laws of the period. An analysis of this legislation, particularly the invalid pension acts of 1793 and 1806, indicates that the early United States represents a key period in the development of the modern disability category. The experiential approach, in contrast, shifts the focus of attention away from the state towards the lived experiences of disabled veterans. It seeks to address the issue of whether or not the disabilities of disabled veterans had any significant material impact on their everyday lives. It does this through a comparison of the situation of 153 disabled veterans with that of an equivalent number of nondisabled veterans. The former group received invalid pensions while the latter did not. In comparing the material conditions of disabled and nondisabled veterans, a wide range of primary sources from military records to memoirs and letters are used. The most important sources in this regard are the pension application papers submitted by veterans in the early nineteenth century. These provide us with a unique insight into the everyday lives of veterans. Looking at the issue of experience through the window of the pension files reveals that there was not much difference in the broad contours of disabled and nondisabled veteran life. This finding has implications for the theorisation of disability that are highlighted and discussed in the thesis. The main themes covered in this study are: the wartime experiences of injured American soldiers, the military pension establishment of the early United States and the legal construction of disability, and the post-war working and family lives of disabled veterans. Keywords: disability, early America, veterans, military pensions, disabled people, Revolutionary War, United States, disability theory.

In the Shadow of Freedom : Life on board the oil tanker

The aim of this study was to look at the freedom of ordinary people as they construct it. The scope, however, was limited to contemporary Finnish sailors and their freedom discourses. The study belongs to the field of the anthropology of religions, which is part of comparative religion. Worldview, which is one of the key concepts in comparative religion, provided the broader theoretical basis of the study. The data consisted of 92 interviews with Finnish professional seafarers conducted in 1996, 1999, 2000 and 2005, field journals that were written during two periods of fieldwork in 1996 and 1999-2000, and correspondence with some of the seafarers during 1999-2005. The analysis process incorporated new rhetoric and metaphor theory. The thesis is in three parts. The first part discusses the methodological challenges of this type of ethnography, the second an ethnography of modern Finnish shipworld focuses on work, organization, hierarchy and gender, and the third part discusses the freedom concepts of seafarers. It was found that seafarers use two kinds of freedom discourse. The first is in line with the stereotypical Jack Tar, a free-roving sailor who is not bound to land and its mundane routines, and the second views shipworld as freedom from freedom, meaning one is not responsible for one s own actions because one is not free to make a choice. It was also found that seafarers are well aware of the stereotypical images that are attached to their profession: they not only deny them, but also utilize, reflect on and construct them.

'Somalia lives with me' : Homeland and Religion in the Lives of Finnish Somalis

The purpose of this thesis is to examine Somalis who live in Finland through their memories. These memories are interpreted as subjective experiences emphasizing the significance of the past and religion in these memories. On the other hand, these memories are understood as a part of collective social memory of Somalis. This study also constructs a comparative perspective for practising Islam in Somalia and Finland. The methodological framework is based on theories of social memory, oral history and narrative analysis. The empirical data is collected by interviewing Somalis living in Finland. The interviews were conducted by using the method of half-structured thematic interview. The data consists of seven interviews. The interviewees are in the focus of this study since their experiences are considered as the main sources of information for this study. The empirical data of the study reveals that Somalis have maintained strong relations to Somalia. The relationship to Somalia is mainly constructed on positive memories. Memories from Somalia have acquired a significant role in the lives of the interviewees. Those memories will define their relation to both past and the present. In the context of religious memories, Islam is described as a way of living which provides advice and defines the terms of everyday life. As a part of those religious memories, the transmitting of Islamic and Somali values plays a significant role in the lives of Somalis in Finland. In such transmitting process of the values, the social religious memory has acquired a significant role. In the context of Islam in Finland, the religious education of children is mentioned as one of the most important features of the Islamic faith by the interviewees. In general, the practice of Islam does not create any major problems for the interviewees in Finland. The interviewees describe their practice of Islam quite similar when compared to their religious life in Somalia. The empirical data also points out the fact that the meaning of Islam has not changed after moving to Finland. Keywords: Somalis, Somalia, Islam, oral history, narrative research