This study contributes to an emerging space of interdisciplinary literature that explores the cultural dynamics people and rivers and the associated contestations. A network of rivers in northern British Columbia, all within the Liard River watershed, provides a relevant case study to examine such topics. Data and analysis are presented using a phenomenological approach that employs archival and participatory fieldwork. Through this research, I ask: why do people go to the river ? In attempting to understand the significance of rivers in people's lives, Go to the River addresses questions concerning the Liard watershed, including: how interpretations of rivers are represented in historic maps the significant transitions during the nineteenth and twentieth century that redefined human-river relations and how rivers are still experienced through direct lived engagements. I argue that past and present direct experiences with rivers are essential in reframing the dialogue about the future of rivers in western Canada. --P. ii.
In this study I explore refugee integration in Ireland. I focus on state policies and structures of integration as well as the lived experience of refugee integration. I ask three questions: 1) What are the state policies and structures that might influence refuge integration? 2) What are the roles of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in refugee integration? 3) How do refugees themselves understand their experience of integration in their new home country? This study uses the research methods of policy analysis and ethnographic research, specifically participant observation and semi-structured interviews. I argue that refuge integration is a complicated negotiation between positive experiences of integration into parts of a multicultural/intercultural society, and negative experiences of discrimination and racism levied against marginalized and "~different' individuals. This negotiation is influenced by the government's neoliberal approach to policy and service implementation and the reliance on NGO advocacy groups. --Leaf ii.
I am interested in the experiences of women living with diagnosed or undiagnosed depression and accessing services at the Phoenix Transition House in Prince George. For the past two decades, the universal Canadian health care system has been dismantled and decentralized by neoliberalist economies. These changes drastically affect the regional health services available to women who provide unpaid care, who work for lower wages, and/or who have been victimized by personal violence. This situation creates a feminized' landscape of depression and mental health services. Eight months of participant observation serves as a background for understanding the daily lives of women accessing services at the Phoenix Transition House. Interviews with seven women were digitally recorded, transcribed, and analyzed to yield eight themes. The most pervasive themes were barriers to mental well-being, limited access to mental health supports, unrecognized symptoms of depression, and stigmas related to depression. --P. ii.
Using a multi-disciplinary approach of Anthropology and History, this thesis examines changes in Vietnamese gender roles from the French colonial administration period through the Indochina war, the Vietnam war, and the post-war period of economic reform of doi moi. I argue that to understand changes in Vietnamese gender roles we need to focus on the connections between gender roles and the ideology of motherhood and how gender roles and expectations shift over time. I also argue that whereas the ideology of motherhood has not changed, gender roles and gender expectations associated with motherhood have. During the war years, the Vietnamese Communist Party used the symbol of motherhood as a way to motivate women to participate in the wars, promote national unity, and create gender expectations. I show the range of gender roles played by women during the war years. The State has excluded voices of women who are not politically affiliated with them. Finally, I argue that to understand the effects of Vietnam's economic policy of doi moi on women's lives, we need to focus our attention on the connection between neoliberalism and gender. --P. ii.
Wilderness' is a term commonly used to describe the forested landscapes of northern British Columbia. This interpretation stems from a western colonial ideology that was transferred to the landscapes of the New World' during the long process of colonization. The rhetoric embedded in the culturally constructed concept of wilderness' had the effect of dehumanizing and erasing an extant vibrant cultural Aboriginal landscape. This re-writing of the landscape was accomplished through various colonial mechanisms, including cartography and the creation of Indian Reserves. Primary and secondary literature demonstrate the extent to which the concept wilderness' has become a meta-narrative of the landscape and shows how this dominant colonial ideology continues to be embedded in social understandings of the land. Information gathered through exploratory interviews with people from the Tsimshian First Nation community of Kitsumkalum in northern British Columbia indicates that First Nations people's attachment to the land is still deeply embedded in their culture and in their everyday lives. The ethnography demonstrates that these peoples' ideologies of the land have not been erased through colonialism. Rather, they have continued to exist. Thus it is important to work towards a space where more than one ideology of the land can not only exist, but also be acknowledged and accepted especially when faced with treaty negotiations over land and rights.--P.ii.
