Search results
- Title
- Amplifying voices of development: Insights from Indigenous Maya leaders of El Quiche, Guatemala.
- Contributors
- Alexandra Pedersen (author), Catherine Nolin (Thesis advisor), University of Northern British Columbia (Degree granting institution)
- Abstract
- The concept of development is under immense scrutiny. By questioning what is development and development for whom?' a re-thinking of these practices is underway throughout the world. Critical development practitioners are seriously evaluating development' to better understand the divided views between the North and South from a richly interdisciplinary perspective. In my thesis, I present findings of a recent research project in which I sought the perspectives of eight Indigenous Maya leaders of El Quiché, Guatemala. Based on interviews conducted in September 2010 in the Guatemalan highland city of Santa Cruz del Quiché and surrounding area, I attempt to better understand the meaning(s) of the word development from an Indigenous perspective, and how a self-determined vision of life best suits local communities. Based on their lived experiences, the Indigenous Maya interviewees asserted that development' practices prescribed by the local government and country's elites, as well as outside non-government organizations and multinational corporations, are not in the best interests of the Indigenous population. I attempt to highlight how the imposition of the development' itself has become, to these leaders, synonymous with forms of racism, inequality, exclusion, oppression and a loss of Indigenous identity and culture. Rather, Maya leaders in El Quiché stress the right to self-determined development, cultural preservation and a more holistic vision of life for individuals and communities. --P. ii.
- Discipline
- International Studies
- Content Model
- info:fedora/ir:thesisCModel
- Date added
- 2011
- Title
- The meaning of reconciliation and development in post-genocide Rwanda.
- Contributors
- Hyae-Rim Roncin (author), Fiona MacPhail (Thesis advisor), Catherine Nolin (Thesis advisor), University of Northern British Columbia (Degree granting institution)
- Abstract
- When the characteristic of mass violence is primarily intrastate rather than interstate in nature, as was the case during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, geographical separation among conflicting groups is not always a viable solution. In such cases, reconciliation can present a way to recuperate and rebuild broken relationships amongst former adversaries. Reconciliation itself, however, is not a general concept or set of rules to be equally applied towards different groups or countries. This thesis is centered on a key question: what are the meanings of reconciliation and development in post-genocide Rwanda, and how are they related? To examine this relationship, three possible connections are conceptualized: social healing and community development, reparations and economic development, and shared views on history and political development. This research contends that in a post-conflict setting, development without reconciliation is an incomplete process. --P. i.
- Discipline
- International Studies
- Content Model
- info:fedora/ir:thesisCModel
- Date added
- 2012
- Title
- Mujeres autorizadas: Women's empowerment programs as a form of community development in Guatemala.
- Contributors
- Jennifer Reade (author), Catherine Nolin (Thesis advisor), University of Northern British Columbia (Degree granting institution)
- Abstract
- No abstract available.
- Discipline
- Interdisciplinary Studies
- Content Model
- info:fedora/ir:thesisCModel
- Date added
- 2006
- Title
- Is resource extraction a curse or a bonanza for local communities? Mining case study: Quiruvilca, Peru
- Contributors
- Ysler Giulliana Tamblyn (author), Catherine Nolin (Thesis advisor), University of Northern British Columbia (Degree granting institution)
- Abstract
- Mining keeps making the news around the world due to its social and environmental impacts on local communities. Peru is no stranger to these types of social conflicts. In order to address my research question: ' Is mining a curse or bonanza for local communities in Peru?', I reviewed secondary literature where scholars such as Bebbington, Arellano, Veltmeyer, and De Echave question the perceptions of mining as bonanza for local communities, and suggest mining may instead be a curse for local communities. I also conducted primary research and explored this dichotomy from the perspective of a local indigenous community. In 2012, I conducted fieldwork for a case study on the mining town of Quiruvilca in the central Andes of Peru, surrounded by two large mines owned, until recently, by Canadian mining companies. I used an exploratory mixed research method to conduct and analyse 100 semi-structured interviews with local indigenous residents, in the urban area of Quiruvilca. In spite of scarce evidence of socio-economic development and limited employment opportunities, the majority of residents support mining in their community, mainly because of employment opportunities where few other options exist. --Leaf ii.
- Discipline
- International Studies
- Content Model
- info:fedora/ir:thesisCModel
- Date added
- 2014
- Title
- Narratives of negotiation: Transnational marriage migration in northern British Columbia.
- Contributors
- Courtney LeBourdais (author), Catherine Nolin (Thesis advisor), University of Northern British Columbia (Degree granting institution)
- Abstract
- In this thesis, I examine the everyday and particular experiences of seven foreign brides residing in three resource-based communities in northern British Columbia (Prince George, Fort St. John and Dawson Creek), during 2009 and 2010. The intent of my research is to understand how foreign brides' experiences of marriage, migration, settlement and integration influence their reestablishment of sense of self, belonging, place and identity in new and complex environments. Globalization and advancements in communication technologies have shifted the scope and scale of marriage migration to include new players and encompass new landscapes however, the frequency of this practice and the experiences of foreign bridges are often unknown or misunderstood given that no formal monitoring system exists. As such, it is necessary to examine the hidden avenue' (Nolin 2011) of migration to rural and remote communities within northern British Columbia (BC), as this setting poses limited access to services and cultural networks which can exacerbate foreign bride's already vulnerable sponsorship status and expose increased opportunities for mistreatment and abuse. Thus, to explore foreign brides' experiences in this landscape, I utilize Abu-Lughod's ethnographies of the particular' (1991) and Nolin's transnational ethnographies' (2006) as methodological approaches to inform the use of in-depth interviews, Photovoice, and photo elicitation techniques. Findings presented include the identification of four central points of negotiation: i) Marital Relationships ii) Family Dynamics iii) Reestablishment of Independence and Agency and iv) Cultural Refueling Opportunities and Transnational Connections. By identifying how public and private negotiations shape individual motivations, agency, self-determination, and reinvention, I illustrate how multi-sited and multi-scaled power dynamics influence the reestablishment of foreign brides' sense of place and identi
- Discipline
- Geography
- Content Model
- info:fedora/ir:thesisCModel
- Date added
- 2014
- Title
- Conflicting perspectives: Neoliberal resource development, indigenous communities, and modern Canadian imperialism in Guatemala.
- Contributors
- Jacqueline Stephens (author), Catherine Nolin (Thesis advisor), University of Northern British Columbia (Degree granting institution)
- Abstract
- No abstract available.
- Discipline
- Interdisciplinary Studies
- Content Model
- info:fedora/ir:thesisCModel
- Date added
- 2006
- Title
- Exhuming Guatemala's gender-based violence: Justice, truth-telling, and rebuilding in a post-conflict society.
- Contributors
- Cristian Marcelo Silva Zuniga (author), Catherine Nolin (Thesis advisor), University of Northern British Columbia (Degree granting institution)
- Abstract
- This interdisciplinary thesis is grounded in forensic anthropology, feminist geography, and the violent history of the past century in Guatemala. I seek to determine a link between past and present gender-based violence in Guatemala. Historically, Guatemala has been gripped in periods of political, economic and social transitions. I argue that gender-based violence becomes most pervasive during these periods of transition, and suggest that the 36-year armed conflict that began in 1960 exacerbated the pre-existing forms of gender-based violence that began before the Spanish Conquest. I describe the characteristics of gender-based violence as they differ between men and women despite the fact that more men were and are murdered in Guatemala than women, the method by which women have been and are killed is personal, with greater physical contact than in the cases of men. This form of violence is labeled femicide, that is, the killing of women because they are women, a crime associated with the impunity that perpetrators are granted by the state. The research for my thesis was in collaboration with the Fundación de Antropologia Forense de Guatemala (Guatemala Forensic Anthropology Foundation) (FAFG), the Fundación Sobrevivientos (Survivor Foundation) (FS), and the Grupo Guatemalteco de Mujeres (Guatemalan Group of Women) (GGM). Based on this fieldwork conducted in Guatemala in May 2008, I share the interviews of family members of victims as they voice their testimonies of violence. I examine the history of violence that occurred in the preceding 100 years, since the dictatorship of Manuel Estrada Cabrera (1898-1920) who introduced the ideology of the Caudillo to the emerging nation state. Post-peace gender-based violence, the period of violence since the signing of the Peace Accord in 1996, is explored, and I provide evidence that there is an increase in gender-based violence, despite the declaration of peace. The challenges to reconciliation are described using a framework of forensic investigation to
- Discipline
- Interdisciplinary Studies
- Content Model
- info:fedora/ir:thesisCModel
- Date added
- 2012
- Title
- Dams, Displacement, and Perceptions of Development: A Case from Rio Negro, Guatemala.
- Contributors
- Nathan Einbinder (author), Catherine Nolin (Thesis advisor), University of Northern British Columbia (Degree granting institution)
- Abstract
- Guatemala's history is plagued with development' projects that result in displacement, violence, and increased marginalization of its Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations. In order to make way for development initiatives such as the production of coffee, bananas, and sugar cane the extraction of metals such as gold and nickel or, in this specific case, the construction of a large hydroelectric dam, the land-based, predominately Maya farmers, or campesinos, are systematically uprooted from the lands of their birth, and launched into uncertainty. Using the case of the Chixoy Hydroelectric Dam, built from 1978-1983, this thesis examines the effects of displacement on the former residents of Rio Negro, a community which endured a series of massacres by the military and paramilitary due to its resistant stance on forced removal. Through the use of open-ended interview discussions, or testimonies, as well as other qualitative methods, I attempt to illuminate this specific incident of displacement and violence, and discuss the outcomes thirty years later. My findings, based on fieldwork conducted January through April 2009, suggest that the majority of survivors from the Rio Negro massacres are still adversely affected from the destruction of their families and livelihoods, and that the return to a more self-determined and traditional Maya-Achi way of life is crucial for personal and community rehabilitation. I conclude that despite this incident occurring in unique circumstances, and at the height of the internal conflict, the same struggles over land and rights continue into the present--and if policies are left unchanged, clashes of this nature will only increase in time. --P. ii.
- Discipline
- Natural Resources & Environmental Studies
- Content Model
- info:fedora/ir:thesisCModel
- Date added
- 2011
- Title
- La Voz del Pueblo: Maya Consultas and the Challenge of Self-Determination for Socially Responsible Investment in the Mining Sector.
- Contributors
- John-Paul Laplante (author), Catherine Nolin (Thesis advisor), University of Northern British Columbia (Degree granting institution)
- Abstract
- In Guatemala, the consulta comunitaria recently emerged as a process for local communities to resist mining and other extractive industries in the absence of government consultation. Approximately one million people in more than 76 of these plebiscites said no' to mining or other extractive projects since 2005. This case study examines the perspectives of consulta organizers from three Maya communities in Guatemala's western highlands who rejected the presence of Canada's Goldcorp, Inc. Interviews between May and November 2010 asked the organizers about the movement and the role of Goldcorp's socially responsible investor (SRI), the Ethical Funs, to promote indigenous rights. Employing a critical geographic approach to examine the consultas as an exercise of power and indigenous self-determination, the analysis found that consulta organizers were motivated by the historic and ongoing exclusion of their communities from the priorities of government, the proximity of the mineral licenses to their communities and the potential negative environmental and social impacts from mining. The organizers had no knowledge of SRIs and the lack of knowledge reveals a corporate social responsibility (CSR) gap that is the product of asymmetrical information distribution between investors and affected communities. I conclude that the consultas challenge the discourse of CSR by demanding explicit respect for the right to free, prior and informed consent, and represent a boundary condition for CSR where a local action creates geographic limits on where CSR, as practiced by the mining industry, is welcome. --Leaf ii.
- Discipline
- Geography
- Content Model
- info:fedora/ir:thesisCModel
- Date added
- 2015