Theses & Dissertations
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- ItemCarescapes: Complexities and Configurations of Senior Care(University of Guelph, ) Bunsee, Cassandra Lutchmin; Kawano, SatsukiThis research provides an ethnographic snapshot into the everyday care experiences of older Canadian senior citizens who are not receiving formalized eldercare services and how their care experiences are complicated by their experiences of aging. Through the use of graphic elicitation, I received 10 participant drawings depicting care experiences from different perspectives. By looking at these drawings called “Carescapes” and pulling from semi-structured qualitative video interviews with senior citizens, this thesis seeks to begin addressing the relationship between care and aging by attending to the ways senior citizens have learned and are learning to care for their changing selves as they continue to age past 65 years old. This thesis will address the questions of how experiences of aging influence conceptualizations of good care and how practices of care influence seniors’ experiences of aging from a phenomenological perspective. The main finding of this research is that practices of multidirectional “good care” enable senior citizens to continue to age meaningfully and with dignity in their later life stages.
- ItemOne Panthera onca and Six Jaguars: Jaguar Conservation in the Anthropocene(University of Guelph, ) Richardson, Gabriella; Gagné, KarineJaguars, the Panthera onca species, are top feline predators in 18 Latin American countries. Jaguars are also increasingly threatened by climate change and anthropogenic activity. This study provides insight into Shuar, farmer, conservationists, and conservation volunteers’ perceptions of jaguars in Ecuador, a country where limited research on jaguars exists. Informed by ethnographic accounts, multispecies ethnography, conservation, Anthropocene, and affect theory literature in anthropology, this research presents six social constructions emerging from one Panthera onca species - the apex predator, affective, threatening, semi-wild, digital, and charismatic jaguars. These jaguars demonstrate how we affect and are affected by an elusive Amazonian predator. These social constructions shed light on how multispecies relationships, worlds, domesticated and wild distinctions are implicated in environmental and jaguar conservation models in a localised Amazonian Anthropocene and the Anthropocene on a planetary scale.
- ItemEmotional Dynamics in Youth Justice Committees: Exploring Victim Experiences in Restorative Practice(University of Guelph, ) MacDiarmid, Laura; O'Grady, WilliamThe current study examines victim experiences in Youth Justice Committees (YJCs), a program model of restorative justice. Legislated under the Canadian Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) (2003), YJCs provide an opportunity for victims to have a voice in the criminal justice process and encourage young persons to acknowledge and repair the harm caused. While victims are included in youth justice legislation, there is comparatively limited empirical research to account for what victim participation looks like in practice or how victims assess their experiences in YJCs. Furthermore, there has been little research that accounts for how interactional dynamics during YJCs impact victim outcomes. To address these gaps in the literature, I draw from the sociology of emotions and foreground the role of apology-forgiveness to provide a conceptual framework to understand the role of emotion for victims in restorative justice. Data collection occurred across four program sites in Ontario and consisted of 23 interviews with victims and program coordinators, as well as two observations of YJCs. Findings suggest that YJCs are well positioned to address the needs presented by victims following harm; however, victim participation in YJCs is relatively uncommon. Furthermore, while victims are motivated to participate in YJCs to receive symbolic restitution, not all victims receive an apology, or view the apology provided as sincere. The remedial work involved in delivering an effective apology reflect victim considerations such as acceptance of responsibility, expressions of remorse, and efforts to repair the harm. I show how perceptions of apology sincerity impact emergent outcomes along dimensions of shared morality, emotional energy, and forgiveness. Lastly, I present three types of conference processes to demonstrate how preparation, communicative competence, and the presence of parents or guardians, shape conference outcomes. Overall, my findings contribute to a more robust understanding of how restorative justice works for victims, while considering important constraints that reflect the operationalization of restorative justice in the youth criminal justice system.
- ItemDown and Out: Support Services, Satisfaction, and the Impacts of Marginality Among Canadian Youth Experiencing Homelessness(University of Guelph, ) Lathangue, Sebastian; O'Grady, WilliamThis study used Canadian data from the 2015 “Leaving Home” national youth homelessness survey (n = 1103) to explore variance in support service satisfaction among the youth who used these services. Using OLS Regression, statistical analysis was carried out to determine if multiple marginalities (e.g., possessing more than one marginalizing identity) impact individual’s satisfaction with Canadian social services for homeless youth from the perspective of the youth who access them. Specifically, it explores the question are young people experiencing homelessness all served equally well by service providers? If they are not, do factors of marginality explain such variation? This project is unique in that not only have many Canadian-based studies on homelessness identity focused on adults, but these studies have also been qualitative or have used quantitative surveys with small groups of youth. Results indicate that possessing one or more marginalizing identity has some impact on social service satisfaction. Discussion and suggestions for future research, policy changes, and limitations are included.
- ItemA story of how communities have been shaped by residents learning to garden(University of Guelph, ) Haltom, Jessica; Finnis, ElizabethThis thesis presents an example of how people in the Bronx, New York City have used gardening as a tool for both education and community building. Gardening in this context represents a historical and present-day way that people fight back against the structural violence which has resulted from municipal neglect. In these cases, the teaching of gardening techniques represents a critical pedagogy which seeks to empower individuals through creating access to knowledge about healthy options. By investigating the presence of gardens in communities this thesis finds many benefits to people in the surrounding community. These benefits include feelings of joy, visibility, and pride, while providing food to a community with disproportionately high rates of food insecurity. I conclude my thesis with a brief discussion on how city uses of scaffolding should be obligated to consider and mitigate scaffolding effects on gardens near buildings where the scaffolding is in use.