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| postgraduates Catherine Dom
[email protected] Supervisors: Allister McGregor, Pip Bevan, David Pain Liz Graveling [email protected] Research Proposal: The Social Impact of the Growth of Christianity in Africa The aim of this research is to examine the social effects of the growth of Christianity in Africa, which has occurred on an immense scale over the course of the past century, from 10 million Christians (9.2% of the population) in 1900 to an estimated 411 million (almost 50% of the population) in 2005. In order to do this the research will focus on a case study community, using mainly qualitative methods to explore questions such as how the growth of Christianity has resulted in the formation of new allegiances or identities, how it has challenged or changed values and attitudes (particularly in relation to poverty and wealth), and how it therefore affects social behaviour, the way decisions are made, social networks, access to and use of resources. The PhD is ESRC-funded and was started in October 2004 after completion of an MRes in International Development. The fieldwork is expected to take place from early 2005. Supervisors: Sarah White and Joe Devine
Monica
Guillen Royo [email protected] General Research Question: how current patterns of consumption affect the satisfaction of human needs in middle-income countries (Peru and Thailand). In the thesis I would like to test a hypothesis that arise from the review of literature on consumption from economics, sociology, cultural studies and psychology and draws from the theory of Max-Neef (1991) on types of satisfiers and the theory of human needs of Doyal-Gough on basic and intermediate needs. My starting point is that Consumption is generally related to trade-offs in terms of products and services that are not acquired and in terms of time allocation (opportunity costs) and that those trade-offs have often detrimental effects on objective indicators of well-being. The hypothesis is as follows: Hypothesis: Regardless to the level of needs satisfaction achieved in a society, the implicit trade-offs associated to the acquisition of certain goods are potentially hampering the satisfaction of basic needs. Research Methods: – Questionnaire and data collection in Peru and Thailand trying to identify consumer goods and trade offs associated to them that have a detrimental effect on human needs. – Case study through qualitative methods to enquire about consumer goods, the trade-offs and their impact on basic needs, and the reason for this to happen. Supervisors: Ian Gough, Theo Papadopoulos
Becky Lockley [email protected] Research Proposal: Migration and Wellbeing in Peru: an exploration into the dynamics of social relationships Supervisors: J.Devine and J.Copestake
Sorcha
Mahony [email protected]
Preliminary research questions: The research will be ethnographic, will focus on two communities in North East Thailand, and will take in a range of differences according to age, gender, family structure and economic status. It will locate questions within the context of migratory processes and rapid change - both key issues affecting life in contemporary Thailand. Supervisors: Sarah White, Ian Gough, Tess Ridge
Faith
Martin [email protected]
Supervisors: Karen Rodham and Laura Camfield, Dept of Psychology
Fara
Mee-Udon [email protected] Background: This research will study
the impact of a new form of health care Objective: The specific objectives of this research are to understand local conceptions of wellbeing through studying the effect of this health care policy on women and men and gender relations in rural Thailand. Methodology and scope: The research will use mainly qualitative research methods, particularly participant observation. It will be conducted in two villages (remote and non remote) in northeast Thailand. There are two fieldwork periods and they will be 6 months each. The first fieldwork period will start in October ’04 and the second one will take place in summer ’05.
Becky
Schaaf [email protected] Research Aim: A dynamic, non-linear, systems approach to the study of collective action, focusing on the role of interconnections and interdependencies within and beyond communities, achieved through an investigation into village savings group initiatives in three communities in Thailand. The purpose of the research is to attempt to identify, through a focus on relationships between and within communities, factors affecting the variations in success rates of community savings schemes. The research will also attempt to identify chains of causation leading to these either virtuous or vicious spirals. In an attempt to achieve a multi-disciplinary perspective, this research intends to draw on and connect with many literatures from different disciplines. These include Complexity Theory, Collective Action, Microfinance, research specific to Thailand, Actor Network Theory, Game Theory, and literature and theories underlying the WeD research. The research will be undertaken through analysis of the RANQ data, secondary data collection on the national and regional context, and individual interviews and surveys in each village. The aim is to undertake the fieldwork in the three rural WeD sites in NE Thailand. The intention is to conduct the fieldwork in two phases – one month in each village to carry out the questionnaire surveys from mid January to mid April 2005, and one month in each village to conduct the interviews from June to August 2005. Supervisors: J.A.McGregor, I.Gough
Bethlehem Tekola [email protected] Research Proposal:Bonding in Adversity? A Psycho-Social Approach to Crisis and Child Poverty in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia I. Background A preliminary survey of the literature on Children in Poverty reveals that there are problems in three important areas. One of the areas is with regard to the conception of children as a single unit of analysis. Studies of child poverty tend to homogenize children who live in poverty. They overlook the significant differences that appear to exist not only between male and female children but also among infants, knee children, 3-6 children, 7-adolescents, adolescents and young adults. These oversights have hindered our full understanding of not only how different groups of children perceive their situation of poverty but also how differently they strive to cope with that situation. The second area where a problem exists is with regard to conceptions of poverty itself and its relationship with family, society and values. Just as it homogenizes the children, the literature tends to homogenize situations of poverty in which children find themselves and links those situations with phenomena like dissolution of family bonds or social values. The homogenization of poverty has often meant that predicaments [difficult situation/condition, dilemma] faced by children in crisis situations (which might include the dissolution of families) are not sufficiently delineated from those faced by children living in impoverished families. Even more importantly, however, the tendency to link poverty to the weakening of the social fabric or social values has hindered our understanding of the complex ways in which the two phenomena relate to each other. The third area where problem exists is with regard to research methodology regarding child poverty. Social Science literature on children has conventionally taken children as objects rather than subjects of research. The tendency is to approach the problem of child poverty quantitatively in ways that rarely involve the children themselves rather than qualitatively, in ways that involve them. Objectives My proposed study on the problem of child poverty will seek to address these three problem areas through a case study of a cross-section of children in a crisis situation, (most probably those orphaned by the HIV/AIDS pandemic) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I plan to explore the interrelationships between coping abilities and strategies on the one hand and the attitudes and views of the children about their background and their current situation, on the other. Specifically, I want to find out if there is a correlation between attitudes of children in specific age and/or gender categories and the way they face their situation or help their siblings face their situations. Simultaneously with this I want to explore the social origins of the attitudes which thus might affect their capacities to withstand or at least fight a social crisis in the context of poverty. Methods of Investigation As an attitude and value-focused research, my investigation will bring children themselves to centre-stage. It will be conducted on at least one hundred children of varying ages and sexes in Addis Ababa identified purposively from among children who have recently been or still are in crisis situations (e.g. those orphaned by the HIV/AIDS pandemic). The method of data collection will be mostly qualitative since its focus is on attitude formation and on the relationship between attitude and coping with adversity. Family histories and Individual Life Stories will make up the bulk of the material. However, responses will also be solicited on group situations and perceptions through unstructured focus group discussions. A questionnaire will be developed on the basis of the qualitative data and will be administered to the full sample of children to gauge representative-ness of the data.
Susan Upton
[email protected] Aims, methodology, information and location: I will investigate the strategies and constraints that Thai migrants face in achieving what they perceive to be a better quality of life. This will involve an investigation of the main actors within the migration process, the power, roles and outcomes these actors contribute. I will also be focusing on how migrant identities change due to their urban experiences and how this affects their livelihoods. Current migration and livelihoods literature do not take into account the dynamic and circular nature of migrant’s lives and their strong obligations, reciprocity and identity with their areas of origin. The research will be based in the Northeast of Thailand, the poorest region of the country experiencing high migration rates to Bangkok. The fieldwork will involve extensive primary research (interviews, survey, life histories, observation) and secondary data collection from a range of Institutes. Supervisors: Geof Wood, Allister McGregor, Joe Devine
Virginia
Williamson [email protected]
My research is on the cultural and institutional factors which affect (constrain or enable) participation in the monitoring and evaluation of aid effectiveness. This involves a vertical ethnography and comparative study of donors’ aid strategies/interventions in one country, Ethiopia. There are four specific perspectives: (i) participation as ‘contested space’, (ii) the utility of participation, (iii) the role of evaluation in performance management, and (iv) its role in organisational learning. The research is being undertaken with a range of stakeholders, including donors, different levels of government, civil society organisations and communities. The methods are entirely qualitative, primarily semi-structured interviews and participant observation. I work closely with the WeD Ethiopia team, and have affiliate researcher status in the Department of Social Anthropology at Addis Ababa University. Supervisors: James Copestake, Pip Bevan,
Allister McGregor
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