La estigmatización de los mendigos en El Buscón : Similitudes con la persecución de otros grupos marginados

Los mendigos fueron estigmatizados durante la temprana modernidad, convirtiéndose en sujetos sospechosos sobre los cuales recaían múltiples acusaciones. En el presente trabajo veremos cómo La vida del Buscón llamado Don Pablos reproduce este discurso, en el cual encontramos varias similitudes con la marginación de otros grupos sociales en este mismo período de consolidación monárquica. A partir de esto, manejamos la hipótesis de que este texto es parte de la configuración de un enemigo interno que debía ser perseguido y respecto del cual era necesario generar, a través de la aversión y el temor generalizados, el rechazo de la población

La Ordenación del Territorio en las Ciudades Globales Europeas: El caso de Madrid

En la Comunidad de Madrid el modelo de ocupación del territorio en las dos últimas décadas ha obedecido a factores de oferta del mercado y no a las necesidades de la población, ello provoca un consumo de suelo y de recursos que conducen a una sobrexplotación insostenible. Las metrópolis globales están experimentando rápidas e intensas transformaciones, basadas en los paradigmas emergentes de la globalización, la gobernanza, la metropolizacion y la dispersión de las actividades en el territorio y a través de ellos se abordan los planes de Londres, París y las tentativas de Madrid. La globalización provoca la pérdida de soberanía de las administraciones publicas y la competitividad entre las ciudades globales en Europa, Londres, Paris y Madrid, son centros de poder, de concentración y crecimiento donde se produce la dualización del espacio y donde la desigualdad participa de la restructuración urbana, concentración de pobreza frente a espacios de la nueva clase emergente en donde dominan los sectores de servicios y las tecnologías de la información. Frente al desarrollo urbano neoliberal de regulación a través del mercado y basada en criterios de eficiencia de la Nueva Gestión Pública, se vislumbra la posibilidad de que la sociedad se administre a si misma por medio de acciones voluntarias y responsables que promuevan los intereses colectivos mediante el reconocimiento de su propia identidad, introduciendo el concepto de gobernanza. Frente, a la explotación del territorio por parte de la sociedad extractiva que genera corrupcion, se propone un modelo de cooperación público-privada basado en la confianza mutua, un marco regulador estable, la transparencia y la información a cuyo flujo más homogéneo contribuirán sin duda las TICs. En todo este proceso, las regiones metropolitanas en Europa se erigen como motores del crecimiento, donde los límites administrativos son superados, en un territorio cada vez más extendido y donde los gobiernos locales tienen que organizarse mediante un proceso de cooperación en la provisión de servicios que ayuden a evitar los desequilibrios territoriales. El fenómeno de la dispersión urbana en desarrollos de baja densidad, los centros comerciales periféricos, la expulsión hacia la periferia de las actividades de menor valor añadido y la concentración de funciones directivas en el centro, conducen a una fragmentación del territorio en islas dependientes del automóvil y a procesos de exclusión social por la huida de las rentas altas y la expulsión de las rentas bajas de los centros urbanos. Se crean fragmentos monofuncionales y discontinuos, apoyados en las autovías, lugares carentes de identidad y generadores de despilfarro de recursos y una falta de sostenibilidad ambiental, económica y social. El estudio de la cultura de la planificación en Europa ayuda a comprender los diferentes enfoques en la ordenación del territorio y el proceso de convergencia entre las diferentes regiones. Los documentos de la UE se basan en la necesidad de la competitividad para el crecimiento europeo y la cohesión social y en relación al territorio en los desarrollos policéntricos, la resolución del dualismo campo-ciudad, el acceso equilibrado a las infraestructuras, la gestión prudente de la naturaleza, el patrimonio y el fomento de la identidad. Se proponen dos niveles de estudio uno actual, los últimos planes de Londres y Paris y el otro la evolución de las tentativas de planes en la Región madrileña siempre en relación a los paradigmas emergentes señalados y su reflejo en los documentos. El Plan de Londres es estratégico, con una visión a largo plazo, donde se confiere un gran interés al proceso, al papel del alcalde como líder y su adaptación a las circunstancias cambiantes, sujeto a las incertidumbres de una ciudad global. El desarrollo del mismo se concibe a través de la colaboración y cooperación entre las administraciones y actores. La estructura del documento es flexible, establece orientaciones y guías indicativas, para la redacción de los planes locales, no siendo las mismas vinculantes y con escasa representación grafica. El Plan de París es más un plan físico, similar al de otros centros europeos, trabaja sobre los sectores y sobre los territorios, con información extensa, con características de “Plan Latino” por la fuerza de la expresión gráfica, pero al mismo tiempo contiene una visión estratégica. Es vinculante en sus determinaciones y normativas, se plantea fomentar, pero también prohibir. Ambos planes tratan la competitividad internacional de sus centros urbanos, la igualdad social, la inclusión de todos los grupos sociales y la vivienda como una cuestión de dignidad humana. Londres plantea la gobernanza como cooperación entre sector público-privado y la necesaria cooperación con las regiones limítrofes, en París las relaciones están más institucionalizadas resaltando la colaboración vertical entre administraciones. Ambos plantean la densificación de nodos servidos por transporte público, modos blandos y el uso los TODs y la preservación de la infraestructura verde jerarquizada, la potenciación de la red azul y la mejora del paisaje de las periferias. En las “tentativas” de planes territoriales de Madrid se constata que estuvieron sujetas a los ciclos económicos. El primer Documento las DOT del año 1984, no planteaba crecimiento, ni económico ni demográfico, a medio plazo y por ello no proponía una modificación del modelo radio concéntrico. Se trataba de un Plan rígido volcado en la recuperación del medio rural, de la ciudad, el dimensionamiento de los crecimientos en función de las dotaciones e infraestructuras existentes. Aboga por la intervención de la administración pública y la promoción del pequeño comercio. Destaca el desequilibrio social en función de la renta, la marginación de determinados grupos sociales, el desequilibrio residencia/empleo y la excesiva densidad. Incide en la necesidad de viviendas para los más desfavorecidos mediante el alquiler, la promoción suelo público y la promoción del ferrocarril para dar accesibilidad al espacio central. Aboga por el equipamiento de proximidad y de pequeño tamaño, el tratamiento paisajístico de los límites urbanos de los núcleos y el control de las actividades ilegales señalando orientaciones para el planeamiento urbano. Las Estrategias (1989) contienen una visión: la modificación del modelo territorial, mediante la intervención pública a través de proyectos. Plantea la reestructuración económica del territorio, la reconversión del aparato productivo, la deslocalización de actividades de escaso valor añadido y una mayor ubicuidad de la actividad económica. Incide en la difusión de la centralidad hacia el territorio del sur, equilibrándolo con el norte, tratando de recomponer empleo y residencia, integrando al desarrollo económico las periferias entre sí y con el centro. Las actuaciones de transporte consolidarían las actuaciones, modificando el modelo radio concéntrico facilitando la movilidad mediante la red de cercanías y la intermodalidad. El plan se basaba en el liderazgo del Consejero, no integrando sectores como el medio ambiente, ni estableciendo un documento de seguimiento de las actuaciones que evaluara los efectos de las políticas y su aportación al equilibrio territorial, a través de los proyectos realizados. El Documento Preparatorio de las Bases (1995), es más de un compendio o plan de planes, recoge análisis y propuestas de los documentos anteriores y de planes sectoriales de otros departamentos. Presenta una doble estructura: un plan físico integrador clásico, que abarca los sectores y territorios, y recoge las Estrategias previas añadiendo puntos fuertes, como el malestar urbano y la rehabilitación el centro. Plantea la consecución del equilibrio ambiental mediante el crecimiento de las ciudades existentes, la vertebración territorial basada en la movilidad y en la potenciación de nuevas centralidades, la mejora de la habitabilidad y rehabilitación integral del Centro Urbano de Madrid, y la modernización del tejido productivo existente. No existe una idea-fuerza que aglutine todo el documento, parte del reconocimiento de un modelo existente concentrado y congestivo, un centro urbano dual y dos periferias al este y sur con un declive urbano y obsolescencia productiva y al oeste y norte con una dispersión que amenaza al equilibrio medioambiental. Señala como aspectos relevantes, la creciente polarización y segregación social, la deslocalización industrial, la aparición de las actividades de servicios a las empresas instaladas en las áreas metropolitanas, y la dispersión de las actividades económicas en el territorio por la banalización del uso del automóvil. Se plantea el reto de hacer ciudad de la extensión suburbana y su conexión con el sistema metropolitano, mediante una red de ciudades integrada y complementaria, en búsqueda de un mayor equilibrio y solidaridad territorial. Las Bases del PRET (1997) tenían como propósito iniciar el proceso de concertación en que debe basarse la elaboración del Plan. Parte de la ciudad mediterránea compacta, y diversa, y de la necesidad de que las actividades económicas, los servicios y la residencia estén en proximidad, resolviéndolo mediante una potente red de transporte público que permitiese una accesibilidad integrada al territorio. El flujo de residencia hacia la periferia, con un modelo ajeno de vivienda unifamiliar y la concentración del empleo en el centro producen desequilibrio territorial. Madrid manifiesta siempre apostó por la densificación del espacio central urbanizado, produciendo su congestión, frente al desarrollo de nuevos suelos que permitieran su expansión territorial. Precisa que es necesario preservar los valores de centralidad de Madrid, como generador de riqueza, canalizando toda aquella demanda de centralidad, hacia espacios más periféricos. El problema de la vivienda no lo ve solo como social, sino como económico, debido a la pérdida de empleos que supone su paralización. Observa ya los crecimientos residenciales en el borde de la region por el menor valor del suelo. Plantea como la política de oferta ha dado lugar a un modelo de crecimiento fragmentado, desequilibrado, desestructurado, con fuertes déficits dotacionales y de equipamiento, que inciden en la segregación espacial de las rentas, agravando el proceso de falta de identidad morfológica y de desarraigo de los valores urbanos. El plan señalaba que la presión sobre el territorio creaba su densificación por las limitaciones de espacio, Incidía en limitar el peso de la intervención pública, no planteando propuestas de cooperación público-privado. La mayor incoherencia estriba en que los objetivos eran innovadores y coinciden en su mayoría con las propuestas estudiadas de Londres o Paris, pero se intentan implementar a través de un cambio hacia un modelo reticulado homogéneo, expansivo sobre el territorio, que supone un consumo de suelo y de infraestructuras para solucionar un problema inexistente, la gestión de la densidad. Durante las dos últimas décadas en ausencia de un plan regional, la postura neoliberal fue la de un exclusivo control de legalidad del planeamiento, los municipios entraron en un proceso de competencia para aprovechar las iniciales ventajas económicas de los crecimientos detectados, que proporcionaban una base económica “sólida” a unos municipios con escasos recursos en sus presupuestos municipales. La legislación se modifica a requerimiento de grupos interesados, no existiendo un marco estable. Se pierde la figura del plan no solo a nivel regional, si no en los sectores y el planeamiento municipal donde los municipios tiende a basarse en modificaciones puntuales con la subsiguiente pérdida del modelo urbanístico. La protección ambiental se estructura mediante un extenso nivel de figuras, con diversidad de competencias que impide su efectiva protección y control. Este proceso produce un despilfarro en la ocupación del suelo, apoyada en las infraestructuras viarias, y un crecimiento disperso y de baja densidad, cada vez más periférico, produciéndose una segmentación social por dualización del espacio en función de niveles de renta. Al amparo del boom inmobiliario, se produce una falta de política social de vivienda pública, más basada en la dinamización del mercado con producción de viviendas para rentas medias que en políticas de alquiler para determinados grupos concentrándose estas en los barrios desfavorecidos y en la periferia sur. Se produce un incremento de la vivienda unifamiliar, muchas veces amparada en políticas públicas, la misma se localiza en el oeste principalmente, en espacios de valor como el entorno del Guadarrama o con viviendas más baratas por la popularización de la tipología en la frontera de la Región. El territorio se especializa a modo de islas monofuncionales, las actividades financieras y de servicios avanzados a las empresas se localizan en el norte y oeste próximo, se pierde actividad industrial que se dispersa más al sur, muchas veces fuera de la región. Se incrementan los grandes centros comerciales colgados de las autovías y sin población en su entorno. Todo este proceso ha provocado una pérdida de utilización del transporte público y un aumento significativo del uso del vehículo privado. En la dos últimas décadas se ha producido en la región de Madrid desequilibrio territorial y segmentación social, falta de implicación de la sociedad en el territorio, dispersión del crecimiento y un incremento de los costes ambientales, sociales y económicos, situación, que solo, a través del uso racional del territorio se puede reconducir, apoyado en una planificación integrada sensible y participativa. ABSTRACT In Madrid the model of land occupation in the past two decades has been driven by market supply factors rather than the needs of the population. This results in a consumption of land and resources that leads to unsustainable overexploitation. Addressing this issue must be done through sensitive and participatory integrated planning. Global cities are experiencing rapid and intense change based on the emerging paradigms of globalization, governance, metropolization and the dispersion of activities in the territory. Through this context, a closer look will be taken at the London and Paris plans as well as the tentative plans of Madrid. Globalization causes the loss of state sovereignty and the competitiveness among global cities in Europe; London, Paris and Madrid. These are centres of power, concentration and growth where the duality of space is produced, and where inequality plays a part in urban restructuration. There are concentrated areas of poverty versus areas with a new emerging class where the services sector and information technologies are dominant. The introduction of ICTs contributes to a more homogeneous flow of information leading, us to the concept of governance. Against neoliberal urban development based on free market regulations and efficiency criteria as established by the “New Public Management”, emerge new ways where society administers itself through voluntary and responsible actions to promote collective interests by recognizing their own identity. A new model of public-private partnerships surfaces that is based on mutual trust, transparency, information and a stable regulatory framework in light of territorial exploitation by the “extractive society” that generates corruption. Throughout this process, European metropolitan regions become motors of growth where administrative boundaries are overcome in an ever expanding territory where government is organized through cooperative processes to provide services that protect against regional imbalances. Urban sprawl or low-density development as seen in peripheral shopping centres, the off-shoring of low added-value activities to the periphery, and the concentration of business and top management functions in the centre, leads to a fragmentation of the territory in automobile dependent islands and a process of social exclusion brought on by the disappearance of high incomes. Another effect is the elimination of low income populations from urban centres. In consequence, discontinuous expansions and mono-functional places that lack identity materialize supported by a highway network and high resource consumption. Studying the culture of urban planning in Europe provides better insight into different approaches to spatial planning and the process of convergence between different regions. EU documents are based on the need of competitiveness for European growth and social cohesion. In relation to polycentric development territory they are based on a necessity to solve the dualism between field and city, balanced access to infrastructures, prudent management of nature and solidifying heritage and identity Two levels of study unfold, the first being the current plans of London and Île-de-France and the second being the evolution of tentative plans for the Madrid region as related to emerging paradigms and how this is reflected in documents. The London Plan is strategic with a long-term vision that focuses on operation, the role of the mayor as a pivotal leader, and the adaptability to changing circumstances brought on by the uncertainties of a global city. Its development is conceived through collaboration and cooperation between governments and stakeholders. The document structure is flexible, providing guidance and indicative guidelines on how to draft local plans so they are not binding, and it contains scarce graphic representation. The Plan of Paris takes on a more physical form and is similar to plans of other European centres. It emphasizes sectors and territories, using extensive information, and is more characteristic of a “Latin Plan” as seen in its detailed graphic expression. However, it also contains a strategic vision. Binding in its determinations and policy, it proposes advancement but also prohibition. Both plans address the international competitiveness of urban centres, social equality, inclusion of all social groups and housing as issues of human dignity. London raises governance and cooperation between public and private sector and the need for cooperation with neighbouring regions. In Paris, the relations are more institutionalized highlighting vertical collaboration between administrations. Both propose nodes of densification served by public transportation, soft modes and the use of TOD, the preservation of a hierarchical green infrastructure, and enhancing the landscape in urban peripheries. The tentative territorial plans for the Madrid region provide evidence that they were subject to economic cycles. The first document of master guidelines (1984) does not address either economic or demographic growth in the mid term and therefore does not propose the modification of the radio-concentric model. It is a rigid plan focused on rural and urban recovery and the dimensioning of growth that depends on endowments and infrastructures. It advocates government intervention and promotes small business. The plan emphasizes social imbalance in terms of income, marginalization of certain social groups, the imbalance of residence/employment and excessive density. It stresses the need for social rent housing for the underprivileged, promotes public land, and the supports rail accessibility to the central area. It backs facilities of proximity and small size, enhancing the landscaping of city borders, controlling illegal activities and draws out guidelines for urban planning. The strategies (1989) contain a vision: Changing the territorial model through public intervention by means of projects. They bring to light economic restructuring of territory, the reconversion of the productive apparatus, relocation of low value-added activities, and greater ubiquity of economic activity. They also propose the diffusion of centrality towards southern territories, balancing it with the north in an attempt to reset employment and residence that integrates peripheral economic development both in the periphery and the centre. Transport would consolidate the project, changing the radius-concentric model and facilitating mobility through a commuter and inter-modality network. The plan derives itself from the leadership of the minister and does not integrate sectors such as environment. It also does not incorporate the existence of a written document that monitors performance to evaluate the effects of policies and their contribution to the territorial balance. The Preparatory Document of the Bases, (1995) is more a compendium, or plan of plans, that compiles analysis and proposals from previous documents and sectorial plans from other departments. It has a dual structure: An integrating physical plan covering the sectors and territories that includes the previous strategies while adding some strengths. One such point is the urban discomfort and the rehabilitation of the centre. It also poses the achievement of environmental balance through the growth of existing cities, the territorial linking based on mobility, strengthening new centres, improving the liveability and comprehensive rehabilitation of downtown Madrid, and the modernization of the existing production network. There is no one powerful idea that binds this document. This is due to the recognition of an existing concentrate and congestive model, a dual urban centre, two eastern and southern suburbs suffering from urban decay, and an obsolescent productive north and west whose dispersion threatens the environmental balance. Relevant aspects the document highlights are increasing polarization and social segregation, industrial relocation, the emergence of service activities to centralized companies in metropolitan areas and the dispersion of economic activities in the territory by the trivialization of car use. It proposes making the city from the suburban sprawl and its connection to the metropolitan system through a network of integrated and complementary cities in search of a better balance and territorial solidarity. The Bases of PRET (1997) aims to start the consultation process that must underpin the development of the plan. It stems from a compact and diverse Mediterranean city along with the need for economic activities, services and residences that are close. To resolve the issue, it presents a powerful network of public transport that allows integrated accessibility to the territory. The flow of residence to the periphery based on a foreign model of detached housing and an employment concentration in the centre produces territorial imbalance. Madrid always opted for the densification of the central space, producing its congestion, against the development of new land that would allow its territorial expansion. The document states that the necessity to preserve the values of the housing problem is not only viewed as social, but also economic due to the loss of jobs resulting from their paralysis. It notes the residential growth in the regional border due to the low price of land and argues that the policy of supply has led to a fragmented model of growth that is unbalanced, unstructured, with strong infrastructure and facility deficits that affect the spatial segregation of income and aggravate the lack of morphological identity, uprooting urban values. The pressure on the territory caused its densification due to space limitation; the proposed grid model causes land consumption and infrastructure to solve a non-problem, density. Focusing on limiting the weight of public intervention, it does not raise proposals for public-private cooperation. The biggest discrepancy is that the targets were innovative and mostly align with the proposals in London and Paris. However, it proposes to be implemented through a shift towards a uniform gridded model that is expansive over territory. During the last two decades, due to the absence of a regional plan, a neoliberal stance held exclusive control of the legality of urban planning. The municipalities entered a competition process to take advantage of initial economic benefits of such growth. This provided a “solid” economic base for some municipalities with limited resources in their municipal budgets. The law was amended without a legal stable framework at the request of stakeholders. The character of the plan is lost not only regionally, but also in the sectors and municipal planning. This tends to be based on specific changes with the loss of an urban model. Environmental protection is organized through an extensive number of protection figures with diverse competencies that prevent its effective protection. This process squanders the use of the land, backed by increasing road infrastructure, dispersed occupations with low-density growth causing a social segmentation due to space duality based on income levels. During the housing boom, there is a reduction in social public housing policy mostly due to a boost in the market of housing production for average incomes than in rental policies for needy social groups that focus on disadvantaged neighbourhoods and southern suburbs. As a result, there is an increase in single-family housing, often protected by public policy. This is located primarily in the west in areas of high environmental value such as Guadarrama. There is also cheaper housing due to the popularization of typology in the border region. There, territory works as a mono-functional islands. Financial activities and advanced services for companies are located to the north and west where industrial activity is lost as it migrates south, often outside the region. The number of large shopping centres hanging off the highway infrastructure with little to no surrounding population increases. This process leads to the loss of dependency on public transport and a significant increase in the use of private vehicles. The absence of regional planning has produced more imbalance, more social segmentation, more dispersed growth and a lot of environmental, social and economic costs that can only be redirected through rational territorial.

O ARMÁRIO DE DEUS NO ARMÁRIO DOS HOMENS. ALTERNATIVAS TEOLÓGICAS PARA O ACOLHIMENTO E LIVRE EXPRESSÃO DA PESSOA HOMOSSEXUAL NA COMUNIDADE CRISTÃ BRASILEIRA DA CONTEMPORANEIDADE

Esta tese parte de uma análise que alia elementos do método histórico-crítico com o histórico-social, privilegiando a análise do discurso, com a finalidade de apresentar alternativas teológicas que dêem conta de pensar a possibilidade e viabilidade de que pessoas homossexuais possam expressar sua espiritualidade de forma livre e completa nas comunidades cristãs brasileiras. A investigação ensejada, procura apresentar um panorama da homossexualidade no Brasil, pontuando momentos diversos, valores, projetos e colocando em relevo a questão da identidade homossexual, principalmente, uma referência à mesma como perversão, anormalidade, crime e doença, reservando às pessoas homossexuais, o estigma, marginalização e exclusão. A investigação proposta apresentará também a busca por uma identidade alternativa por parte das pessoas homossexuais, tanto do ponto de vista teórico, procurando novas possibilidades conceituais, quanto do ponto de vista político, articulando-se em busca de seus direitos como cidadãos. Procurar-se-á perceber de que maneira o cristianismo no Brasil, em sua vertente católica e protestante, compreende a homossexualidade, quais os seus argumentos, ensinos e posturas principais. A partir de tal análise, buscar-se-á perceber quais os principais pilares erguidos pelas alternativas teológicas no sentido de entender como viável, legítimo e possível a livre expressão da pessoa homossexual nas comunidades cristãs. Destacar-se-á a desconstrução de gênero em sua referência binária masculino/feminino, como prejudiciais ao entendimento e convivência com a diversidade e complexidade de identidades sociais e, a extensão desse projeto a uma desconstrução necessária da concepção de Deus numa e sob uma caracterização masculina.(AU)

O ARMÁRIO DE DEUS NO ARMÁRIO DOS HOMENS. ALTERNATIVAS TEOLÓGICAS PARA O ACOLHIMENTO E LIVRE EXPRESSÃO DA PESSOA HOMOSSEXUAL NA COMUNIDADE CRISTÃ BRASILEIRA DA CONTEMPORANEIDADE

Esta tese parte de uma análise que alia elementos do método histórico-crítico com o histórico-social, privilegiando a análise do discurso, com a finalidade de apresentar alternativas teológicas que dêem conta de pensar a possibilidade e viabilidade de que pessoas homossexuais possam expressar sua espiritualidade de forma livre e completa nas comunidades cristãs brasileiras. A investigação ensejada, procura apresentar um panorama da homossexualidade no Brasil, pontuando momentos diversos, valores, projetos e colocando em relevo a questão da identidade homossexual, principalmente, uma referência à mesma como perversão, anormalidade, crime e doença, reservando às pessoas homossexuais, o estigma, marginalização e exclusão. A investigação proposta apresentará também a busca por uma identidade alternativa por parte das pessoas homossexuais, tanto do ponto de vista teórico, procurando novas possibilidades conceituais, quanto do ponto de vista político, articulando-se em busca de seus direitos como cidadãos. Procurar-se-á perceber de que maneira o cristianismo no Brasil, em sua vertente católica e protestante, compreende a homossexualidade, quais os seus argumentos, ensinos e posturas principais. A partir de tal análise, buscar-se-á perceber quais os principais pilares erguidos pelas alternativas teológicas no sentido de entender como viável, legítimo e possível a livre expressão da pessoa homossexual nas comunidades cristãs. Destacar-se-á a desconstrução de gênero em sua referência binária masculino/feminino, como prejudiciais ao entendimento e convivência com a diversidade e complexidade de identidades sociais e, a extensão desse projeto a uma desconstrução necessária da concepção de Deus numa e sob uma caracterização masculina.(AU)

Lessons from the past: Evolutionary impacts of mass extinctions

Mass extinctions have played many evolutionary roles, involving differential survivorship or selectivity of taxa and traits, the disruption or preservation of evolutionary trends and ecosystem organization, and the promotion of taxonomic and morphological diversifications—often along unexpected trajectories—after the destruction or marginalization of once-dominant clades. The fossil record suggests that survivorship during mass extinctions is not strictly random, but it often fails to coincide with factors promoting survival during times of low extinction intensity. Although of very serious concern, present-day extinctions have not yet achieved the intensities seen in the Big Five mass extinctions of the geologic past, which each removed ≥50% of the subset of relatively abundant marine invertebrate genera. The best comparisons for predictive purposes therefore will involve factors such as differential extinction intensities among regions, clades, and functional groups, rules governing postextinction biotic interchanges and evolutionary dynamics, and analyses of the factors that cause taxa and evolutionary trends to continue unabated, to suffer setbacks but resume along the same trajectory, to survive only to fall into a marginal role or disappear (“dead clade walking”), or to undergo a burst of diversification. These issues need to be addressed in a spatially explicit framework, because the fossil record suggests regional differences in postextinction diversification dynamics and biotic interchanges. Postextinction diversifications lag far behind the initial taxonomic and morphological impoverishment and homogenization; they do not simply reoccupy vacated adaptive peaks, but explore opportunities as opened and constrained by intrinsic biotic factors and the ecological and evolutionary context of the radiation.

Racismo e decadência: sociedade, cultura e intelectuais em São Luís do Maranhão

O argumento desta tese é que a lenta configuração social do racismo na província do Maranhão pode ser observada como uma consequência inesperada da combinação de três processos distintos entre si, dotados de causalidades e efeitos próprios, mas cujo amálgama histórico impulsou a valorização simbólica e política das classificações de cor como critério de distinção e controle social. Em primeiro lugar, o processo econômico de derrocada do setor de exportação, diretamente vinculado à plantation escravista em relação à produção voltada para o mercado interno. Em segundo lugar, o crescimento demográfico da população livre de cor no conjunto dos trabalhadores, grupo que se tornou majoritário ainda na primeira metade do século dezenove. Por fim, o lugar periférico do Estado do Maranhão na política brasileira desde o processo de independência. Para demonstrar esta tese analiso a combinação desses processos na cidade de São Luís do Maranhão e os impasses da integração da população negra nessa sociedade que se imaginou como uma Atenas brasileira.

O português de herança em território fronteiriço: a LH em Olivença como arma para preservação de um grupo minoritário

Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo investigar a língua portuguesa nativa e de herança sobreviventes em território fronteiriço de língua oficial espanhola. Como locus de pesquisa selecionamos Olivença, uma cidade da Espanha em que a língua portuguesa se faz em situações específicas de uso. A relevância desta pesquisa traduz-se no fato de que espaços fronteiriços mantêm sobrepostas em espaços geográficos contíguos algumas realidades que se sobrepõem: a realidade da oficialidade linguística e a realidade do sentimento de pertença sociolinguística. Nesta tese, partimos da identificação, em trabalho de campo, da presença da língua portuguesa no território atualmente espanhol (mas historicamente português) e na constatação de que há uma flutuação de identificação-identidade linguística. No espaço geográfico em que fizemos incursão científica, duas cidades sobrepõem-se historicamente e duas geografias políticas, por outro lado, avizinham-se e roçam-se continuamente. Ao tomar contato com essa cidade, hipotetizamos que o sentimento de pertença linguística estaria presente entre os falantes mais velhos, que manteriam a herança de traços lusitanos em sua comunicação, mesmo ao falar o espanhol. A justificativa é que, logo de chegada, já avistáramos recintos comerciais com nomes portugueses e, contrariamente, não ouvíamos o som lusitano nas ruas. Sabemos que o domínio espanhol numa cidade outrora portuguesa tenderia a apagar vestígios portugueses. No entanto, em grupos íntimos pressupúnhamos o português como língua corrente. Durante o trabalho de campo, identificamos fortes valores culturais sendo empunhados como armas de resistência entre descendentes de portugueses, fazendo correr numa velocidade acentuada a reorganização dos valores lusitanos em redutos da cidade espanhola. Essa força e essa velocidade pareciam ser as molas propulsoras de uma mudança linguística muito sorrateira, que impactava o sentimento de unidade de um segmento social da comunidade sociolinguística. Isso nos inspirou a dar um passo investigativo seguinte em direção aos mais jovens, que tinham o espanhol como língua materna, mas tinham o português como língua de herança. À pergunta central sobre a força do português como língua de herança buscamos respostas por meio de duas outras questões mais indiretas feitas aos sujeitos entrevistados: será que os mais jovens percebiam-se como portugueses? será que os elementos culturais lusitanos presentes nas ruas eram reconhecidos como vinculados à língua de herança? Foi assim que passamos a recolher pistas sobre os traços de resiliência do português como língua incrustada na região espanhola de Olivença.

Contemplative Education CenterStage: Training the Mindful Performer

In the late 20th century and early 21st century, contemplative education/studies courses, concentrations, and initiatives have emerged in the academy. Although there has been significant discussion of postsecondary courses and programs that have integrated contemplative views and practices in the literature, there have been few studies of contemplative curricula and pedagogy in higher education. Additionally, there have been even fewer inquiries of the influence of contemplative education on performing arts training within conservatories and college and university departments. The aim of this qualitative study was two-fold: (1) to describe, interpret, and appraise the impact of contemplative education on the curricula of an interdisciplinary conservatory level performing arts program, MFA Contemporary Performance, at Naropa University; and (2) to disclose, compare, and analyze MFA student perceptions of the influence of contemplative education on their professional and personal development. The following questions guided this study: (1) How do faculty and students characterize contemplative education within the MFA in Theater: Contemporary Performance Program? (2) How does contemplative education impact the intended and operational curricula of courses within the MFA Contemporary Performance Program? (3) How do graduate students perceive the effects of contemplative education, offered by the MFA Contemporary Performance Program, on the development of their communication abilities, presence-in-performance, sociolinguistic perspectives, and aesthetic perspectives? Based on the research methodology of educational criticism and connoisseurship, this investigation provides a vivid description and interpretation of the intended and operational curricula of three core courses within the MFA program. These curricula were examined through five dimensions: intentional, curricular, pedagogical, structural, and evaluative. In order to shape our understanding of the contemplative and performative nature of the curricula, the significant and subtle qualities of the courses were further captured by preparation, context-building, reflective, showing, and closing conventions. Since the courses were grounded in postmodern view, they were evaluated according to Doll's criteria of richness, recursion, relations, and rigor for the evaluation of postmodern curricula. MFA first- and second-year students primarily characterized contemplative education as body/mind training for performance and personal development, sitting meditation, and cultivation of mindfulness and awareness. Student perceptions of the impact of contemplative education on the development of their communication abilities, presence-in-performance, sociolinguistic perspectives, and aesthetic perspectives, throughout the course of their two-year training, are presented in a dimensional analysis. The research reveals eight different themes that intersect the three core curricula and interviews with MFA students and faculty. These thematics include inclusivity, nowness, silence, improvisation, goodness, heart, training, and space. The beginning letter of each theme combines to form the acronym, insights. The framework of insights connects and illuminates the most potent aspects of MFA Contemporary Performance values and training.

The Hybrid Spirit Animating Chinese Pentecostals in Malaysia

This dissertation interrogates the assertion in postcolonial scholarship, especially from the work of Homi Bhabha that the construction and performance of hybrid identities act as a form of resistance for marginalized communities against structures of oppression. While this study supports this assertion, it also critiques how hybridity fails to address issues of unequal power relations. This has led to an uncritical use of hybridity that reproduces the very idea of static identity which its proponents claim to transcend. Through qualitative study of Chinese members of a Pentecostal church in Malaysia, this study argues that church members engage in "unequal belonging" where they privilege certain elements of their identities over others. In concert with Pierre Bourdieu's conceptions of habitus, field, and capital, unequal belonging highlights how hybridity fails to capture the intersecting and competing loyalties, strategies, and complexities of identity formation on a contextual level. Unequal belonging challenges postcolonial scholars to locate the subtle workings of power and privilege that manifest even among marginalized communities. The study first situates the Chinese through an analysis of the historical legacy of British colonialism that has structured the country's current socio-political configuration along bounded categories of identification. The habitus constrains church members to accept certain Chinese ethnic markers as "givens." Although they face continuous marginalization, interviewee data demonstrates that church members negotiate their Chineseness and construct a "Modern Chinese" ethnic identity as a strategic move away from Chinese stereotypes. Moreover, conversion to Christianity affords church members access to cultural capital. Yet, it is limited and unequal capital. In particular, the "Chinese Chinese," who church members have demarcated as backward and traditional, are unable to gain access to this capital because they lack fluency in English and knowledge in modern, westernized worldviews. Unequal belonging nuances monolithic conceptions of hybridity. It demonstrates how church members' privilege of Christianity over Chineseness exposes the complex processes of power and privilege that makes westernized-English-speaking Chinese Christians culturally "higher" than non-English-speaking, non-Christian, Chinese. This study provides significant contribution to the complex aspect of hybridity where it is both a site of resistance and oppression.

When Wells Run Dry: Water and Tourism Along the Western Coast of Nicaragua

This dissertation uses a political ecology approach to examine the relationship between tourism development and groundwater in southwest Nicaragua. Tourism in Nicaragua is a booming industry bolstered by ‘unspoiled’ natural beauty, low crime rates, and government incentives. This growth has led to increased infrastructure, revenue, and employment opportunities for many local communities along the Pacific coast. Not surprisingly, it has also brought concomitant issues of deeper poverty, widening gaps between rich and poor, and competition over natural resources. Adequate provisions of freshwater are necessary to sustain the production and reproduction of tourism; however, it remains uncertain if groundwater supplies can keep pace with demand. The objective of this research is to assess water supply availability amidst tourism development in the Playa Gigante area. It addresses the questions: 1) are local groundwater supplies sufficient to sustain the demand for freshwater imposed by increased tourism development? and 2) is there a power relationship between tourism development and control over local freshwater that would prove inequitable to local populations? Integrating the findings of groundwater monitoring, geological mapping, and ethnographic and survey research from a representative stretch of Pacific coastline, this dissertation shows that diminishing recharge and increased groundwater consumption is creating conflict between stakeholders with various levels of knowledge, power, and access. Although national laws are structured to protect the environment and ensure equitable access to groundwater, the current scramble to secure water has powerful implications on social relations and power structures associated with tourism development. This dissertation concludes that marginalization due to environmental degradation is attributable to the nexus of a political promotion of tourism, poorly enforced state water policies, insufficient water research, and climate change. Greater technical attention to hydrological dynamics and collaboration amongst stakeholders are necessary for equitable access to groundwater, environmental sustainability, and profitability of tourism.

Social Inequity and Globalization: Understanding Violent and Nonviolent Responses

Globalization generates economic growth that is dominated by the free market dynamics of liberalization, deregulation, and privatization. The benefits of this growth are not distributed equally. The resulting inequities cause poverty, marginalization, exclusion, and instability. People respond to these inequities in both positive/nonviolent and negative/violent ways. This capstone project investigates the reasons for divergent responses to globalization by contrasting the underlying social factors in two case studies: peace communities in Colombia and piracy in Somalia. By measuring the level of vulnerability, considering security in a variety of domains, and examining stress on socio-cultural norms, this project develops a social factors framework for understanding the reasons for negative/violent versus positive/nonviolent responses to globalization.

Identity construction through phonetic crossing among young Capetonian gang members

Uncountable gangs operate in post-Apartheid South Africa, particularly in greater Cape Town, competing over turf and controlling the drug trade. Consequently, gang violence is rife in Western Cape and especially widespread in urban areas. In this paper young Capetonians’ narratives of gang violence are analyzed. In the narratives of attacks on Black or White South Africans by Coloured gang members, the Coloured narrators make use of their victims’ varieties of English, more precisely, of phonetic features. Hence, the aggressors do language crossing towards their targets when narrating their feats. Rampton (1995a:485) considers language crossing a ‘code alternation by people who are not accepted members of the group associated with the second language that they are using (code switching into varieties that are not generally thought to belong to them)’. This switching involves a transgression of social or ethnic boundaries that allows the young gangsters to construct, negotiate, uphold and manage their social identities, as language still functions as an utterly important identity marker in post-Apartheid South Africa.

El uso del valenciano, la actitud hacia la lengua y la destreza escrita : Un estudio sociolingüístico sobre el dominio del valenciano de jóvenes alicantinos

Los jóvenes de Alicante viven en una sociedad donde coexisten dos lenguas, el castellano y el valenciano. La lengua valenciana es utilizada por jóvenes de Alicante tanto en ámbitos formales como informales. Los jóvenes hablantes de valenciano sienten un lazo identificativo con la lengua que se rige por las actitudes de éstos. La actitud lingüística conlleva a una identificación lingüística del hablante, la cual es una construcción social que se rige por las normas que rodean al hablante. La identificación bilingüe podría, por lo tanto, ser influenciada e influenciar a su vez a la competencia lingüística. El propósito del presente estudio es investigar en qué situaciones y contextos es usado el valenciano; con el objetivo de estudiar la relación entre el grado de bilingüismo, la actitud lingüística y el nivel de complejidad, corrección y fluidez (CAF) en la expresión escrita del valenciano. Partimos de la hipótesis de que el valenciano tiene, para la generación joven de Alicante, una función social y que la actitud hacia la lengua es positiva, lo que a su vez se refleja en la destreza escrita. Para comprobar nuestra hipótesis nos hemos basado en un cuestionario de hábitos sociales, un test de nivel de valenciano y dos redacciones, una escrita en castellano y una en valenciano. Con la participación de 59 jóvenes alicantinos, llegamos a la conclusión de que el valenciano es usado tanto en ámbitos formales como informales y que la actitud hacia la lengua es positiva, y que consideran importante dominar y preservar el valenciano. Además, los participantes han presentado un nivel alto de destreza en el valenciano escrito, mostrando complejidad y fluidez en la expresión escrita. Por otro lado, la corrección es más elevada en el castellano. También se ha podido ver que la identificación de los participantes está relativamente correlacionada con la competencia lingüística. 

‘Neutral, native-like or authentic’ : Investigating attitudes and beliefs of expanding circle speakers of English

The status of English as the language of international communication is by now well-established. However, in the past 16 years, research has tried to emphasize the fact that the English spoken in international contact situations and between people with other first languages than English has different needs than the English spoken locally amongst native speakers, resulting in the emergence of English as a lingua franca (ELF) as a scholarly field. However, the impact of findings in ELF has so far only led to a moderate shift in English language teaching. Especially in expanding circle countries, where ELF should have the biggest impact, change is only gradually becoming palpable. Accent and pronunciation, as one of the biggest factors on both identity and mutual intelligibility (Jenkins 2000; 2007) are at the root of discussion. The scope of this study is therefore to examine accent choices and the extent to which native speaker ideology informs the preferences of ten speakers of ELF and 27 German natives with experience in international communication. Both ethnographical and sociolinguistic methods, as well as auditory analysis have been applied and conducted. The auditory analysis of six variables in the recorded speech production of the ten speakers suggests that there is no significant preference of one norm-giving variety over the other. Rather, speakers tend to mix-and-match General American- and Standard Southern British English-like features in their pronunciation. When reporting their accent ideals, the idea of a ‘neutral’ English accent is mentioned by four participants. Neutral accents seem to have been understood as ‘unmarked accents’. Expressed beliefs on their own English pronunciation show a comparatively high level of reflection on and confidence in their own production. Results from a rating task and a survey given to 27 German participants reveal attitudes that are more negatively stacked. While Germans reported openness towards NNS (non-native speaker) accents and showed awareness of the priority of intelligibility over accent choice in both their own and others’ pronunciation, they still largely reported NS accent preference. The ratings of the production from ten ELF speakers confirmed this and showed that ‘neutral’ is equated with native-like. In the light of these findings, issues are discussed that ultimately relate to the influence of NS Englishes, identity and the development of English as an international language.

Essays on the Issue of Piracy in the Market of Information Goods

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06