Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Family – Senegal'

L'Afrique de l'Ouest se caractérise par de forts taux de pauvreté et par une protection sociale et des marchés financiers formels défaillants. Dans un tel contexte, les familles remplissent des rôles importants qui façonnent la vie économique et sociale de leurs membres. Cependant, l'efficacité de cette institution fait débat, notamment lorsqu'elle est analysée du point de vue individuel. Ainsi, un nombre croissant d'études en économie du développement se penchent sur les coûts individuels induits par les fonctions familiales. Ma thèse de doctorat s'appuie sur cette littérature et y contribue en analysant la façon dont les décisions économiques individuelles sont prises au sein de la famille au Sénégal, et illustre des cas où la famille ne parvient pas à assurer le bien-être individuel de ses membres.Le premier chapitre s'attache à mesurer les coûts individuels de la redistribution informelle qui a lieu au sein des réseaux sociaux et entre ces derniers, et en particulier au sein de la famille élargie. En effet, en tant que mécanisme d'assurance, de fortes pressions redistributives modifient les choix économiques individuels. En s'appuyant sur des données expérimentales, nous estimons une taxe sociale d'environ 9% et nos résultats indiquent l'existence de fortes distorsions dans les choix d'allocation individuels. Par ailleurs nos résultats montrent que la pression à la redistribution est du fait, principalement, de famille élargie et non du ménage, des cercles amicaux ou du voisinage. Le deuxième chapitre examine comment l'environnement sanitaire contraint les investissements parentaux en termes de santé des enfants. Son objectif est de déterminer si les risques concurrents en mortalité réduisent les investissements des parents dans la santé de leurs enfants. Pour cela nous faisons, dans cet article, l'hypothèse qu'il existe des complémentarités entre les investissements en santé spécifiques à certaines maladies ; et testons celle-ci en nous appuyant sur une intervention récente visant à éradiquer le paludisme au Sénégal. Nos résultats soutiennent ce modèle de risques concurrents et impliquent que les comportements privés d'investissement en santé des parents et les politiques publiques de santé sont complémentaires. Enfin, le troisième chapitre explore comment une stratégie de gestion des risques ex-post, le mariage d'enfants, est lié aux chocs de mortalité au sein des familles. En particulier, j'examine si les décès paternels ont des conséquences néfastes en termes de transition sur le marché du mariage des jeunes orphelines. Mes résultats mettent en évidence la grande vulnérabilité de ce groupe d'enfants en termes de mariages précoces
In the West Africa subregion, poverty is pervasive and social protection at the state-level, as well as formal financial markets poorly function. In such a context, families fulfill important roles, which shape the economic and social life of its members and are key drivers of economic development. How this private institution performs is, however, quite a debate and a growing body of the literature in development economics has focused on the question of the economic inefficiencies of the family institution. My PhD thesis builds upon this literature and contributes to it by shedding light on how individual economic decisions are taken within the family in Senegal, and in which cases the family fails to ensure individual welfare of its members.The first chapter focuses on the individual costs of the informal redistribution that take place within and between social networks, and in particular within the extended family. Using a lab-in the field experiment, we aim at identifying the hidden costs of social obligations for redistribution on individual resource allocation choices. Our results are threefold: (i) we estimate a social tax of about 9\%; (ii) we provide evidence on strong distortions in individual allocation choices; (iii) our results point at people fearing redistributive pressure from the extended family members, but not from within the household or from friends and neighbors. We expand on prior literature by both identifying the individual cost of informal redistribution and then relating it to postexperiment resource-allocation decisions, and by disentangling intra- and interhousehold redistributive pressure. The second chapter investigates how the health environment prevents parents from investing in child health. Its main objective is to investigate whether the health risks faced by children, and in particular their competing nature as mortality risks, depress parental investment in child health. We argue that there are complementarities between disease-specific investments and we test this hypothesis by exploiting recent interventions that made anti-malaria products suddenly affordable to most households in 2009 in Senegal. Our first contribution is to be the first to use data on private health expenditures to validate a model with complementarities between disease-specific investments. Our second contribution is to show that parental behavioral responses clearly complement anti-malaria campaigns, whereby they magnify their impact on all-cause mortality for children. Finally, the third chapter explores how a quite harmful ex-post risk management strategy, child marriage, relates to changes in family structures (mortality shocks). In particular, I investigate whether paternal death induces adverse marriage outcomes for young orphans. I also discuss the channel that could induce such effects. My results underpinned the high vulnerability of this group of children: when the father dies, the young girls are more likely to marry as child brides and to be child mothers than their non-orphan counterparts. Those girls have more frequently broken marital trajectories, in particular due to divorce. This paper builds upon the existing demographic literature and provides at least two contributions. First, it is, to my knowledge, the first to study jointly the timing of the father's death and other dimensions of well-being such as fertility, marital dissolution and consumption. Second, it discusses the extent to which selection on unobservables might bias the analysis, an issue that is discarded in most studies

Cette thèse porte sur l'analyse des normes de redistribution au sein de la famille élargie en Afrique Sub-Saharienne et de leurs impacts sur les choix d'allocation des ressources entre individus. Dans un contexte où les marchés financiers sont peu développés et où les revenus sont très volatiles, les individus sont vulnérables face aux risques économiques et de la vie. Pour pallier ces risques, ils se reposent alors principalement sur deux stratégies : la redistribution intrafamiliale et l'épargne. Dans cette thèse, j'étudie comment les mécanismes de redistribution intrafamiliale affectent les décisions d'épargne. A partir d'une enquête qualitative originale conduite au Sénégal en 2012, le premier chapitre propose une analyse fine de la relation entre les migrants, principaux contributeurs aux dépenses du ménage d'origine, et les destinataires de leurs transferts afin de mieux comprendre la dynamique du partage de ressources et les normes sociales qui y sont jointes. Dans le second chapitre, j'étudie les décisions de transferts au sein de la fratrie et comment elles permettent d'expliquer les choix d'épargne. J'utilise les données représentatives à l'échelle nationale de l'enquête "Pauvreté et Structure Familiale' au Sénégal. Je montre l'importance de transferts notamment destinés à des cérémonies, qui sont associés pour les hommes par un niveau d'épargne plus faible. Dans le troisième chapitre, je mets en évidence l'existence de stratégies coûteuses visant à réduire la pression à redistribuer, à partir d'une expérimentation originale au Sénégal. Une forte disposition marginale à payer pour cacher ses revenus est observée. De plus, les personnes ayant reçues leurs gains en privé transfèrent moins à leur entourage et compensent par d'avantage de dépenses personnelles. Enfin, dans le chapitre 4, il s'agit de comprendre comment les changements anticipés dans la situation matrimoniale du ménage peuvent influencer les comportements d'épargne et d'investissement. En particulier, je montre que les femmes en union monogame, face au risque de l'entrée d'une seconde femme dans leur union, investissent dans des stratégies visant à se protéger économiquement, en accumulant davantage d'épargne et concentrant leurs dépenses sur leurs besoins personnels et l'éducation de leurs enfants
This PhD dissertation aims at analyzing the effect of informal redistribution, taking mostly place within the extended family, on individuals' resource allocation choices in Sub-Saharan Africa. Indeed, in this region, due to limited access to markets for insurance, credit and savings, and to formal redistribution, individuals are vulnerable to life risks and economic shocks. To protect themselves against these risks, individuals rely mainly on two strategies: informal redistribution and informal savings. I analyze in this thesis how informal redistribution within the extended family affects individual savings decisions. The first chapter is based on an original qualitative survey conducted in Senegal in 2012 and propose a detailed analysis of the relationship between the transfer senders and the recipients within several family networks to understand the dynamics of resource sharing in the extended family and the social norms attached to these transfers. In the second Chapter, I investigate transfer patterns within a sibship and analyze how these patterns are related to saving decisions, using the nationally-representative ' Pauvrete et Structure Familiale' (PSF) suvey in Senegal. I find some evidence of high redistributive obligations that come generally at the cost of lower savings achieved for the main transfer senders. Based on an original lab experiment, in the third chapter, I highlight the widespread use of costly strategies aimed at circumventing these redistributive norms, namely income hiding. I identify the distortionary effects of such strategies on resource allocation decisions. In particular, I elicit a high willingness-to-pay to hide income from peers in the lab and show that hidden income induce a lower share of the gains devoted to transfers out of the lab, compensated by an increase in personal expenses. Finally, in my last chapter, using the panel of individuals of the PSF survey, I show that monogamous wives, when facing a higher risk of becoming polygamous, invest in self-protective strategies by saving more and spending more on personal expenses and on the education of their children

This thesis explores competing meanings of being a woman in Dakar, Senegal. Above all, it is concerned with the relationship between livelihoods – how ordinary Dakarois make ends meet – and women’s gendered identities. It explores the full spectrum of Dakar women’s economic activities, all the while keeping the definition of what, precisely, qualifies as ‘economic’ or as ‘work’ as open as possible. Distancing itself from approaches that privilege the sexual aspects of gender, this thesis asks what kinds of gendered economic identities emerge in the context of the various roles and relationships that constitute women’s everyday lives. What do women do that enables people in this society to get by and to secure their day-­‐to-­‐day needs? How are these activities experienced, and what kind of values are they imbued with? Based on three years’ fieldwork in low-­‐income neighbourhoods across the Dakar region, the thesis advances an ethnographic analysis of women’s roles as wives and girlfriends, sisters and sisters-­‐in-­‐law, daughters, mothers and grandmothers, and members of extended family and community networks. It explores women’s activities as dependents, consumers, providers and informal-­‐sector workers. Together, the chapters shed light on the complexities and contradictions involved in being a woman in this particular part of the world. Building on the ethnographic findings, this thesis argues that it is possible to identify two distinct, even competing conceptions of being a woman in Dakar. One of these can be framed in terms of ‘materialism’, the other around the emic concept of ‘mothering work’. Dakar women, this thesis suggests, draw on both in order to create, defend and challenge the meaning and the value of their everyday experiences.

This dissertation examines disputing and dispute resolution primarily among married couples in the small city of Saint-Louis, in the northwest comer of Senegal, West Africa. The goal of this project is two-fold: first, to locate "couples disputing" in the context of the culture and systems of power in urban Senegal; second, to analyze how this context is reproduced and contested through disputing and participation in legal (state) and informal (non-state) dispute resolution processes. At another level, this project focuses on determining how and to what degree the law enables and empowers women to resist domestic violence, and, alternatively, allows it to persist. The place of domestic violence is examined through the lens of local culture and ideology, as well as legal and conflict-oriented behavior. Central to this project is the observation of a dynamic interaction between the daily lived reality of couples and intermediate and higher-level institutional frameworks. In other words, love, cooperation, arguing, disdain, beating, rape, separation, divorce, and reconciliation occur inseparably from the authority structures of family and community, selective coercion and empowerment by state and civil bodies, and the distant impositions of international entities. An ethnographic portrait of marital disputing and domestic violence is created using court observations and recorded speech, structured and unstructured interviews, documentary research on court records, and extended participant observation in the community.

This research begins to explore what political tools are necessary to elevate women’s position in society by transforming legislation. Women in Francophone West Africa do not enjoy certain basic rights and there is need to improve their status. The promotion and appointment of women to the position of prime minister, Mame Madior Boyé in Senegal in 2001 and Mariam Kaidama Cissé Sidibé in Mali in 2011, gives us hope that women-friendly agendas will be given priority. I pose the question: Did the appointment of these two women to the heads of their respective governments improve the status of women and their political representation in West Africa? There is existing research that suggests that more women in government increases the visibility of women’s issues. I argue that simply having women in positions of power is not sufficient; participation in informal politics and civil society is imperative. These women have to go into the position with a commitment to women’s issues and a willingness to work with the already existent networks of women’s associations dedicated to furthering women’s rights. I study the successful passage of a new woman-friendly constitution in Senegal. In particular, I look at each participant’s role in making this happen, the associations who pushed for reforms for many years, the reformist president Wade, and Boyé who was a founding member of one of the central women’s associations, the Association of Senegalese Female Legal Practitioners. I compare this with the unsuccessful signing of new family code in Mali. I discuss the disinterest and indecisiveness of the president and Sidibé, as well as the influence of the strong opposition from the conservative High Islamic Council. There are also institutional barriers to change, namely the pluralist legal system of customary law, Islamic law, and state law. Finally, I discuss other possible reasons for the differences in these two countries’ results, such as Senegal’s longer history of democracy and general acceptance of modernity and women’s rights.

Magister Public Health - MPH
Background: Disclosure in the context of HIV is the sharing of information about one’s HIV-positive status with someone else. In the case of people living with HIV (PLHIV), many factors influence their decision to disclose. As with other illnesses there is a concern about possible discrimination or stigma. On the other hand, disclosure can lead to higher levels of support and better management of HIV infection. Types of disclosure can also vary depending on the need of the PLHIV, being partial or full, in order to gain the most benefit. Self-disclosure or mediated disclosure with the assistance of someone else is controlled by the PLHIV, whereas involuntary or forced disclosure might not be under the PLHIV's control and thus more likely to have negative consequences. No studies have been done in the rural area of Linguère, Senegal or in the rest of the country to identify the factors that influence the decisions of PLHIV around disclosure. Senegal has a concentrated HIV epidemic with national HIV prevalence stable at 0.7% in 2005 and 2010 Demographic and Health Surveys. Linguère District's HIV prevalence was at 0.8% in 2003. By knowing more about what motivates PLHIV to disclose or not disclose their status, service providers and others can better support PLHIV to practise beneficial disclosure. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore factors that influence the decision to disclose or not disclose one's HIV-positive status to regular sexual partners, friends and family in Linguère District,Senegal. Methods: A qualitative method with in-depth interviews was used to explore the factors that influenced decisions concerning disclosure. Fifteen PLHIV were identified through purposive sampling based on criteria such as marital status, gender and prior disclosure decisions. In addition, four service providers from the AIDS service organization, Projet SSP, and the district health and social workers served as key informants. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and translated from the local languages into French. Record reviews of the HIV/AIDS service organization complemented the interviews. The fieldwork was conducted in the study setting for two weeks in January 2012. The data was analysed through thematic analysis. Findings: The main themes that emerged as reasons for disclosure were maintaining psychosocial well-being, existence of trusting relationships, need for support with health care, reciprocal obligations and concern for others, whereas reasons for non-disclosure included stigma and discrimination and negative impact on family. However, the factors varied from one participant to another and could not consistently be attributed to one group or another, whether man or woman, married or divorced,etc. Influencing factors were related to gaining support for the participant or avoiding problems. Concerns about stigma were great and included reference to wanting others to have soutoura— privacy, dignity, respect. There were also factors which took into consideration the consequence for the person to whom they might disclose, such as desire to avoid upset or desire to seek testing and possible care for a spouse. Of the participants who had disclosed, there were no cases of severe negative consequences. Not one participant expressed regret for having disclosed, rather they acknowledged that there were positive benefits for themselves and sometimes also the other person to whom disclosure was made. The roles of the service providers and the support group were also influential in decision-making around disclosure, with a good number of cases of mediated disclosure. Conclusion: In line with consequence theory, PLHIV weighed up their benefits and costs when decisions around disclosure were contemplated. The benefits were that PLHIV who chose to disclose gained from increased social support and better management of their HIV infection. At the same time further transmission of infection was potentially reduced and others were oriented for testing and for access to care if needed. In general, HIV continues to be a particularly stigmatising condition and thus the majority of PLHIV in this study judged that it is not worth the risk of possible abandonment,rejection or slander to disclose their status, regardless of the fact that few have actually experienced severe negative consequences as a result of actual disclosure. Because of support provided through service providers and the support group, however, those participants who had chosen to disclose to someone outside of the support group were reaping benefits and also likely avoiding the need to turn to risky activities, such as transactional sex or formal sex work. Recommendations: Recommendations drawn from this study include the need to support programmes or initiatives which seek to reduce HIV-related stigma. There is also the need for leaders in the community to show support for PLHIV which can reduce stigma. Health care and service providers should be aware of the needs of PLHIV and the changes that may arise over time which could lead to a decision to practise beneficial disclosure. They should also learn from the experiences shared by other PLHIV which can in turn be shared. They should receive further training in order to better understand the complexity of disclosure and to assist with mediated disclosure.

Cette thèse s’inscrit dans une analyse des dynamiques contemporaines du vieillissement dans les sociétés africaines, particulièrement au Sénégal. Elle propose d’explorer les expériences des « parents » âgés en cours de fragilisation à travers le prisme de la solidarité face au changement social, de saisir les ambivalences relatives, d’une part à leur place au sein de la sphère familiale et sociale, et d’autre part dans les représentations de la vieillesse. Cette recherche déconstruit tout d’abord les représentations de la vieillesse en montrant que les « parents » âgés ne sont pas de « simples assistés », mais des acteurs au sein du réseau familial de solidarité et que « leurs vieillissements » sont pluriels, dynamiques et riches d’inventivité. Ensuite, à partir des enquêtes qualitatives réalisées au Sénégal et de façon complémentaire auprès de migrants sénégalais en France (le Havre), la recherche met en lumière les limites des solidarités familiales dans l’accompagnement social des « parents » âgés et appelle à l’imagination de solutions variées envers les personnes vieillissantes. Enfin, les transformations dans les modalités d’exercice des solidarités familiales envers les personnes âgées invitent à un retournement de regard, sinon de paradigme dominant, dans la façon de penser la vieillesse. Cette thèse est une contribution à la connaissance des expériences multiples du vieillissement
This thesis is part of an analysis of the contemporary dynamics of aging in African societies, particularly in Senegal. It proposes to explore the experiences of elderly "parents" in the process of becoming fragile through the prism of solidarity in a context of social change, to grasp the relative ambivalences, on the one hand in their place within the family and social sphere, and on the other hand in the representations of aging. This research deconstructs first of all the representation of aging by showing that the elderly parents are not the "simple assisted", but actors within the family solidarity and that "their ageing" are plural, dynamic and rich of inventiveness. Then, from the qualitative surveys carried out in Senegal and in a complementary way with Senegalese migrants living in France (Le Havre), the research highlights the limits of family solidarities in the social accompaniment of elderly "parents" and calls for imagining of varied solutions to ageing people. Finally, the transformations in the family modalities of exercising of solidarities towards the elderly invite to a reversal of glance, if not dominant paradigm, in the way of thinking old age. This thesis is a contribution to the knowledge of the multiple experiences of aging

Le droit de la famille constitue un sujet très sensible dans les pays musulmans et donne lieu à une controverse récurrente, principalement structurée autour des pôles islamique et féministe. C’est le cas au Sénégal et au Maroc où l’option retenue par le législateur - qui vise à renforcer les droits des femmes dans le cadre d’un texte cherchant à concilier impératifs islamiques et injonction à la modernité - est loin de faire l’unanimité. En prenant les débats sur le droit de la famille comme point de départ, ce travail se propose - à partir d’une analyse croisant action publique et sociologie politique du droit - de voir comment l’Etat cherche à réguler l’intime pour s’affirmer comme entreprise totale de domination dans un contexte marqué par un fort pluralisme normatif. La comparaison par contrastes dramatiques permet de centrer l’analyse sur le différentiel de capacité et de légitimité des Etats marocain et sénégalais pour mieux saisir le processus différencié d’institutionnalisation de l’Etat au sud. Dans les deux cas, l’Etat cherche à tirer avantage de la controverse en jouant sur les différents systèmes normatifs et en impliquant l’ensemble des acteurs qui le reconnaissent comme arbitre légitime, ce qui lui permet de conserver le pouvoir déterminant de la mise en forme juridique. Afin de pallier les difficultés d’application du droit, l’Etat s’appuie également sur les acteurs non étatiques pour le diffuser, ce qui confirme le caractère co-produit de la politique du droit de la famille. Si le droit étatique ne constitue pas la norme unique mais une norme mobilisable parmi d’autres, il contribue néanmoins à l’orientation des schèmes de perception et d’action des individus et renforce ainsi la prétention de l’Etat à constituer l’autorité politique ultime
In Muslim countries, Family Law is a highly sensitive matter, which generates recurrent controversy, mainly polarised around Islamic and feminist positions. This is, for instance, what can be observed in Senegal and Morocco. In both countries, the legislator tried to mediate this tension by strengthening Women’s Rights within a text that conciliates Islamic imperatives and injunction to modernity. But this solution is far from receiving unanimous support.Taking the Family Law debate as a starting point, this work combines public policy studies and political sociology of law to analyse how the State tries to regulate the intimate sphere in order to be viewed as the sole domination apparatus within a context of strong normative pluralism. The comparison between the Moroccan and the Senegalese States - a comparison based on ‘dramatic contrasts’- allows to focus the analysis on the differences between the Morocco and Senegalese states in terms of capacity and legitimacy, and thus helps us in better understanding the specificity of state-institutionalisation processes in developing countries.In both cases, the State tries to take advantage from the controversy. It plays on the different normative systems and involves all the actors who acknowledge it as the legitimate arbitrator in order to keep and consolidate its power of law framing. Furthermore, in order to overcome the difficulties linked to law enforcement, the State relies on non-state actors to apply the law. This evidences and confirms the fact that Family Law is the result of a process of co-production. Even if State jurisprudence does not constitute the only normative order, but one amongst others, it nevertheless importantly influences individual behaviour on both the cognitive and the experiential levels. It thus reinforces the State’s pretention to constitute the ultimate political authority

Le paludisme est une grave maladie infectieuse provoquant chaque année plus d'1 million de décès, qui touche à 80 % des enfants africains. Cette situation s'explique en partie par des facteurs sanitaires et sociaux. La thèse s'intéresse aux comportements de recours aux soins d'enfants fébriles résidant au Sénégal. Les résultats montrent une intense pratique des soins à domicile et un faible recours aux structures sanitaires, avec de long délais et une mauvaise observance des prescriptions. Cependant, les comportements suivent une logique pragmatique, au regard des déficiences de l'offre de soins biomédicale. La prise en charge de la maladie de l'enfant s'inscrit dans un cadre collectif, dans lequel chaque membre de la cellule familiale intervient selon un registre d'action prédéfini et spécialisé. Les comportements de recours aux soins sont influencés par de nombreux facteurs, dont la symptomatologie, la morphologie de la cellule familiale et les paramètres contextuels.

Les groupes de travail font partie des principaux animateurs informels de la vie scolaire au Sénégal. Alors qu’ils sont au cœur des activités de sociabilité scolaire observées dans l’enseignement secondaire, ils n’ont fait l’objet d’aucune analyse sociologique. Force est pourtant de reconnaître qu' ils sont devenus des espaces concurrents et alternatifs à la transmission officielle des contenus d’enseignement face à l’incapacité croissante de l’école à assurer cette mission essentielle d’encadrement des élèves. Les enquêtes qualitative et quantitative effectuées auprès de 110 groupes de travail montrent que ces derniers sont un espace d’activation des pratiques sexuées. Deux modèles de socialisation introverti et extraverti régulent les activités sociales et les projets scolaires et professionnels des élèves. Le modèle introverti pousse les filles à faire un usage limité des activités de sociabilité scolaire et à privilégier leur projet matrimonial et les formations de courte durée ; tout le contraire du modèle extraverti qui incline les garçons à construire un projet scolaire et professionnel solide. Cette thèse interroge les transformations en cours, dans les modes de sociabilité sénégalaise, s’expliquant en partie par l’accès des femmes aux secteurs modernes de l’emploi. Cette présence féminine sur le marché de l’emploi n’a pas forcément entraîné une renégociation des rapports parentaux. L’étude du rôle des groupes de travail dans la réussite scolaire des élèves montre que les groupes sociaux défavorisés tirent un grand bénéfice des activités de sociabilité scolaire, par l’accès à un espace social favorable à la création de vocations scolaire et professionnelle
Work groups are part of the main informal school life-stirring factors in Senegal. Though they are at the core of socializing activities in high school education, they have never been studied on a sociological basis. Nevertheless, one has to admit that in the past years, they have become simultaneous and alternative to official and regular transmission of education contents due to the ever growing incapacity of school to take on this essential mission of students’ supervision. Qualitative and quantitative surveys carried towards 110 work groups show that these groups are where gender-related practices start off. Two socializing models, introverted and extroverted, regulate social activities and school and professional projects. The model we shall call “introverted” lead girls, one the one hand, to a limited use of school sociability activities in order to favor their matrimonial project and short-term trainings. On the other hand, boys in this model are encouraged to build on a strong school and professional project. This thesis study questions the on-going transformations in the Senegalese socializing trends, that can be partly explained by the access of women to modern employment sectors. This feminine presence on the employment market doesn’t trigger necessarily a negotiation in parental terms. The study of the work groups’ role in school success show that disadvantaged social groups benefit a lot from socializing activities through access to a social space prone to school and professional vocations

Literacy is a basic fundamental skill for academic, professional, and social success in our culture. Children with low exposure to reading can experience reading difficulties, diminished cognitive development, and poor academic outcomes. Inconsistency in the conceptualization of early literacy has hampered research and development of successful, translational early literacy interventions, particularly for children from low-income households. Preschoolers from low-income, urban backgrounds (n = 426), including 221 females and 205 males aged 35 - 60 months (M = 47.46, SD = 6.44) participated in an investigation of the latent factorial structure of early literacy. The study also explored whether children’s psychological strengths and their family’s literacy-related behaviors support improvement of early literacy skills following completion of a literacy development intervention. Results support a three-factor model of early literacy proposed by Sénéchal, LeFevre, Smith-Chant, and Colton (2001). This study also found that, despite the influence of age, sex, and family income, children’s psychological strengths and family literacy behaviors are predictive of early literacy skills comprised of this three-factor structure. However, only children’s psychological strengths predicted improvements in early literacy scores at post-test. Implications for preschool interventions and measurement of early and family literacy constructs are discussed.

Se trata de una investigación realizada entre 1994 y 2002 que combina la metodología cualitativa con la metodología cuantitativa, con trabajo de campo en Cataluña, Reino Unido y Gambia, y que, partiendo de un marco teórico multidisciplinar, aborda uno de los ámbitos menos accesibles y fundamentales de los procesos de interculturalidad: la formación de la pareja y la familia y los procesos de 'endogamia'/'exogamia' (i.e. matrimonio y relaciones íntimas informales dentro/fuera de un grupo o categoría social determinado), en el contexto de la transnacionalidad, a partir del caso de la población africana -particularmente de Senegal y Gambia- residente en Cataluña.
Los objetivos generales planteados son: 1) conocer cómo afecta la migración en la formación de la pareja/familia, analizando qué factores intervienen en el proceso, y dedicando una atención particular a la formación de familias mixtas (bi-nacionales); 2) avanzar en una conceptualización multidisciplinar y transcultural del parentesco, y producir un conocimiento que sirva para comprender y afrontar los procesos de interculturalidad en las sociedades plurales a un nivel profundo.
Las conclusiones señalan que los patrones de elección matrimonial son uno de los aspectos que menos varía con la migración, y que la endogamia y la homogamia (o en todo caso hipergamia para los inmigrantes) son las tendencias que predominan. Esto ocurre en todos los niveles analizados; a saber: país/región de nacimiento-socialización; religión; grupo étnico; familia (vínculo de parentesco) y clase-estatus social. Las razones son tanto estructurales como normativas: por un lado, está el patrón migratorio masculino y el proyecto de migración temporal en el contexto de estrategias migratorias colectivas organizadas fundamentalmente por la familia, donde el matrimonio concertado tiene una función cohesionadora de la estructura de parentesco. Por otro lado, la endogamia supone un elemento de referencia dentro de la organización familiar, como soporte básico y principal vehículo para la transmisión de los valores de la sociedad de origen (aquí el Islam actúa como catalizador cultural). La mayor conectividad de la red comunitaria en origen y en destino conduce la endogamia; lo contrario compele a la exogamia. Sin embargo, no se trata de procesos irreversibles ni excluyentes. Se cumplen también tres hipótesis secundarias: a) Los hombres son más exógamos que las mujeres, tanto por factores socio-culturales (Islam, estructura patriarcal) como estructurales (migración masculina); b) La exogamia es mayor en las relaciones 'informales' que en las 'formales', además de porque a nivel público la presión de la norma es mayor, por procesos de xenofilia y mixofilia (occidentalidad-modernidad vs. extranjeridad-exostismo); y c) Las 'generaciones jóvenes' (i.e. los inmigrantes más jóvenes y los descendientes de inmigrantes) son más exógamas que las 'generaciones viejas', debido a la desvinculación con el país de origen propio o de los padres, y a la consecuente diversificación de las redes sociales y los procesos de secularización.
Las aportaciones de la investigación se pueden resumir en que: 1) cabe relativizar el papel del factor cultural en los procesos de endogamia/exogamia, en favor de los aspectos de clase social (la homogamia socio-económica predomina tanto en las uniones endógamas como en las exógamas); 2) tanto la consideración de la exogamia como panacea de la integración, como la consideración unilateralmente negativa de la endogamia (ghettización), deben ser cuestionadas (la endogamia suele responder a la articulación de una red social básica en la sociedad de acogida, y el mestizaje no es una precondición para la integración estructural); y 3) la formación de familias mixtas (bi-nacionales) en el marco de la transnacionalidad, obliga a replantearse los esquemas tradicionales sobre lo que constituye el lugar y la diferencia, lo que implica cambios sociopolíticos estructurales (e.g. en cuanto a la definición de ciudadanía).
This thesis research was carried out between 1994 and 2002, and entailed multi-sited fieldwork (Spain, United Kingdom, The Gambia). It incorporates both qualitative (ethnographic) and quantitative research methods. The thesis deals with one of the most important aspects of interethnic relations: partner choice, family formation and cultural adaptation -in the context of transnational migration- among immigrants in receiving countries. Processes of endogamy and exogamy (i.e. marriage and intimate informal relationships inside/outside one's category or group), a central aspect of the discussion, are explored through considering the case of African immigrants -especially Senegalese and Gambian immigrants- living in Catalonia, Spain.
The thesis has the following general objectives: 1) to understand better how migration affects the formation of the couple/family, an understanding which is arrived at through an analysis of the factors involved in partner choice, and a close examination of the formation and experiences of bi-national (i.e. Senegalese/Gambian-Spanish) families; 2) to contribute to an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural conceptualization of kinship; 3) to understand better interethnic relations and patterns of social and cultural adaptation in pluralistic societies.
The conclusions point out that patterns of partner choice are one of the most stable aspects of processes of migration, and that endogamy and homogamy (if not, hypergamy) are the predominant trends. These patterns are present at all the different levels analysed here, whether country or region of birth; religious affiliation; ethnic group; or family (consanguinity) and social class/status. The causes are both structural and normative. On the one hand, endogamy prevails due to the masculine migratory pattern and the plan of temporary migration (i.e. a plan ultimately to return to and invest in the society of departure), which should be seen in the context of collective migratory strategies, organised by the family of origin; in this context, arranged marriages function as an element of cohesion of the kinship structure. On the other hand, endogamy is a principal vehicle for the maintenance of cultural and social values and practices (Islam works here as a cultural catalyst). In other words, a greater connection with one's community network, both within the society of origin and the society of destination, leads to endogamy, while a lesser connection leads to exogamy. However, endogamy and exogamy are neither irreversible nor exclusive processes.
Three other secondary hypotheses are validated in this research: a) men are more exogamous than women because of both socio-cultural factors (Islam and the global patriarchal structure) and structural factors (masculine migratory patterns); b) exogamy has a higher incidence in 'informal' than 'formal' relationships due to public pressure and accepted norms surrounding marriage, as well as processes of xenophilia and mixophilia (i.e., Westernness-modernity vs. foreignness-exoticism); c) 'younger generations' (i.e. young immigrants and descendants of immigrants) are more exogamous than 'older generations', attributable to the former's detachment from their own, or their parents', country of origin, and to the consequent diversification of social networks and processes of secularization that occur.
The research contributions of this work can be summarized as follows: 1) greater importance should be awarded to factors of social class than culture when considering processes of endogamy/exogamy, given that socio-economic homogamy exists both among endogamous and exogamous couples; 2) it is a mistake to consider a priori endogamy as a negative or an anti-integratory practice (ghettoization), or exogamy as a panacea of integration: endogamy is linked to the necessity of articulating a basic social and kinship network in the receiving society, and exogamy (métissage) does not necessarily mean structural integration; and 3) the formation of bi-national families within the dynamic and fluid context of transnationalism challenges traditional ideas of location and difference, a reality that leads to socio-political changes at a structural level around the globe (i.e. a rearticulated definition of citizenship).

Le corpus de films est constitué par les films amateurs tournés par les coloniaux dans les colonies françaises, Madagascar et le Sénégal. Ce corpus source est enrichi des films contemporains les utilisant. Dans le cadre d'une pratique d'action-recherche, deux films ont été réalisés. En 3 mouvements nous avons essayé de déterminer la valeur des films amateurs coloniaux aujourd’hui. Nous nous sommes appuyés sur l’anthropologie pragmatique et la philosophie de l’ordinaire pour comprendre les enjeux de ces films. Nos enquêtes révèlent que cette absence de valeur correspond à un déni de réalité de la situation coloniale, niant à la fois les injustices et les liens affectifs qui avaient pu être créées principalement entre les enfants de colons et les domestiques. D'où le paradoxe : des films dits "domestiques", les domestiques sont absents. Cette absence est essentielle. Sans les nounous et les boys, ces films sont des no man’s land. De plus, le contexte colonial crée un rapport d'illégitimité voir d'illégalité de ces films. En conclusion nous proposons d'une part une méthode de reconstruction cinématographique qui mette au cœur de son dispositif les trois acteurs liés aux films amateurs : les filmeurs, les filmés, les personnes dans le Hors champs. D'autre part nous proposons la création d'un institut des films amateurs coloniaux reposant sur des principes établis par un éthique de l'archivistique audiovisuelle et qui permettrait aux anciens colonisés de se réapproprier les images spoliées de leur propre passé à une époque où il y avait un monopole des moyens de production audiovisuelle. Cela répondrait à une justice mémorielle, audiovisuelle et affective
The films corpus is made by amateur films shot by colonials in the French colonies, Madagascar and Senegal. This source corpus is enriched by contemporary films using these amateur films and films from the colonial era. As part of a practice of action research, two films were made. In 3 movements we tried to determine the value colonial home movies may have today. We relied on the pragmatic anthropology and ordinary philosophy to understand the issues of these films. The starting assumption was that these films had been abandoned, they had no more value as a result of a colonial state denied by settlers. Our historical and sociological surveys show that this lack of value is a denial of reality of the colonial situation, denying both injustice and emotional ties that had been created mainly between the settler children and servants. Hence the paradox of films called "domestic" is that domestics are absent. This lack is essential. Without nannies and boys, these films are a no man's land. Moreover, the colonial context creates a report view illegitimacy illegality of these films. In conclusion we propose firstly a cinematic reconstruction method that puts the heart of its system linked to the three actors amateur films: the filmmakers, the filmed people and those in the fields Out. Secondly we propose the creation of an institute of colonial amateur films based on principles established by an ethic of audiovisual archiving that allow former colonized to reclaim the images of their own past at a time when there was a monopoly of audiovisual means of production. This would respond to a memorial, audiovisual and emotional justice

Le pouvoir des femmes en politique, avant, pendant et après la colonisation, n'a pas décliné avec l'aide des médias. À travers la vie associative, les femmes ont réussi à s'imposer, par l'empowerment dans la société civile, malgré les contraintes de la polygamie, l'excision, et le lévirat, depuis l'époque des indépendances en 1960. Mais c'est avec le commerce informel, que les femmes se réunissent pour mettre au point une stratégie afin de s'en sortir. L'émergence d'un pouvoir féminin, a pu faire vaciller les forces en place. Parlant de la polygamie, quoi de plus naturel d'avoir plusieurs épouses pour un musulman, dans la mesure où la religion l'encourage. Alors que l'ignorance du planning familial, la répétitivité des naissances, la fragilisation des femmes portent atteintes à leur intégrité. D'autre part, le commerce informel, devient un levier d'émancipation où s'affirment leur empowerment social économique ainsi que la reconnaissance de la société de leur capacité à s'occuper de leur destin qui n'est plus entre les mains du ''boröm kër'', le maître de maison. L'avenir se concentre dans les groupements associatifs au niveau les différents villages. Le groupement des femmes permet dès lors une éducation scolaire et une diminution de l'analphabétisme. La prise de conscience de leur pouvoir sur les hommes est bien présente par leur force de travail. Quand la femme ouolof a réussi à supplanter son époux par le commerce informel, se rend aux réunions des femmes, elle s' agenouille et demande humblement la permission à son époux. Celui-ci lui autorise de sortir. Cette démarche s'impose, malgré l'indépendance économique de la femme. Son abaissement vis-à-vis de l'homme est une condition sine qua non pour l'avenir de ses enfants. Cette vision de la culture sénégalaise, culture du respect de l'homme fait de celui-ci le protecteur et guide spirituel de toute la famille
The power of women in politics, before, during and after colonization, has not declined with the power of media. Through the associative life, women have managed to prevail by empowerment in civil society, despite the constraints of polygamy, excision and levirate marriage, since the time of independence in 1960. But with the informal trade, women come together to develop a strategy to escape. The emergence of a feminine power, could waver existing strengths. About polygamy, what could be more natural to have several wives for a Muslim, to the extent that religion encourages it. While ignorance of family planning, the repetition of birth, make them sick and destroyed the integrity of women. Regarding informal trade, becomes a lever of emancipation which affirm their social, economic empowerment and recognition of the society to care after for their ''Borom Kër'', the householder. The future is concentrated in associative areas in different villages. The group therefore allows women an education and a reduction of illiteracy. Awareness of their power over men is present in their work force. When Wolof woman managed to supplant her husband by informal trade, went to meetings of women, it's kneel and humbly ask her husband's permission. This allows him to leave. This is necessary, despite the economic independence of women. Its lower about the rights is important for the future of children. Vision of Senegalese culture, whom respect the man made it the spiritual guide and protector of all family

O parasita da malária, P. falciparum, mata na ordem de um milhão de crianças Africanas em cada ano, e esta é uma pequena fracção do número de pessoas infectadas em todo o mundo. A evolução clínica de uma infecção por este parasita depende em certa medida, da constituição genética do indivíduo infectado. O papel dos factores genéticos que regulam a gravidade da infecção da malária tem sido repetidamente demonstrado em humanos e animais. Os estudos de associação são realizados com o objectivo de identificar os genes implicados na causalidade do resultado da infecção. Foi detectado anteriormente, linkage no cromossoma humano 5p15 ao número de ataques de Plasmodium falciparum (PFA) em Dielmo, uma aldeia senegalesa [48]. Posteriormente, e antes deste estudo, um levantamento usando um ensaio "GoldenGate" da Illumina, com cerca de 1.450 SNPs foi realizada na região de Linkage com o fenótipo PFA. A análise foi realizada com três programas estatísticos baseados na família: Merlin, QTDT e FBAT/PBAT. Estes programas identificaram três genes candidatos associados com o fenótipo PFA: três SNPs (rs4867417, rs7714218 e rs11959398), localizados no gene PDZD2, um SNP (rs11134099) no gene ADAMTS16, e outro (rs3777320) localizado no gene SEMA5A. O objectivo deste estudo foi investigar estas associações. Os SNPs das regiões destes genes candidatos foram escolhidos por sequenciação de exões situados na região candidata ou por análise bioinformática utilizando dados do HapMap da população Yoruba. O estudado para genotipagem foi através das análises de pré-design ou “Custom” dos SNPs (Applied Biosystems). Os dados foram incluídos num banco de dados e a verificação dos erros de transmissão mendeliana foi efectuada. As análises estatísticas foram realizadas utilizando dois programas de associação familiar, PBAT e QTDT. Foram utilizados diferentes modelos de transmissão de alelos e foi definido como limite de significância p-value = 10-3. As análises de SNPs dos genes PDZD2 e ADAMTS16 não confirmaram a associação, mas encontrou-se associação significativa com SNPs do gene SEMA5A. Um SNP (rs3777325) foi significativamente associado com o fenótipo PFA usando ambos os programas (p-value= - 6.49x10-4 usando o programa PBAT e p-value = 2.0x10-4 usando o programa QTDT). A análise de haplótipos de dois SNPs adjacentes (rs4541632 e rs1018956), também mostrou uma associação significativa do haplótipo GC (p-value= -6.82x10-5) utilizando o programa PBAT. Este estudo confirma que o locus de susceptibilidade para o fenótipo PFA está localizado no gene SEMA5A. Mais estudos serão necessários para replicar essa associação e identificar o polimorfismo causal.
The malaria parasite, P. falciparum, kills on the order of a million African children each year, and this is a small fraction of the number of infected individuals world-wide. The clinical outcome of an infection by this parasite depends to some extent on the genetic makeup of the infected individual. The role of genetic factors that regulate the severity of malaria infection has been repeatedly demonstrated in humans and animals. Association studies are conducted with the aim of identifying the causal genes implicated in the outcome of infection. Linkage was previously detected on human chromosome 5p15 controlling the number of Plasmodium falciparum attacks (PFA) in Dielmo, a Senegalese village [48]. Subsequently, and prior to this present study, a fine mapping study using a "GoldenGate assay” from Illumina, with about 1450 SNPs was performed in this region of linkage with PFA phenotype. Analysis was performed with three statistical family-based programs: Merlin, QTDT, and FBAT/PBAT. These programs identified three candidate genes associated with PFA phenotype: three SNPs (rs4867417, rs7714218, and rs11959398) located in PDZD2, one SNP (rs11134099) in ADAMTS16, and one (rs3777320) in SEMA5A. The aim of this present study was to investigate these associations. Novel SNPs in the candidate regions of these genes were selected either by sequencing exons located in these candidate regions or by bioinformatics analysis using HapMap data from Yoruba population. SNPs were studied using either Pre-design or Custom SNP genotyping assay (Applied Biosystems). Data were included in an Access Database and checked for error of Mendelian transmission. Statistical analyses were performed using two family-based association programs, PBAT and QTDT. We used different models of allele transmission and defined p=10-3 as significance threshold. The analyses did not confirm the association with SNPs of PDZD2 or ADAMTS16, but did find significant association with SNPs of SEMA5A. One SNP (rs3777325) was significantly associated with PFA phenotype using both programs (p-value= -6.49x10-4 using the PBAT program and p-value=2.0x10-4 using the QTDT program). A haplotype analysis of two adjacent SNPs (rs4541632 and rs1018956) also showed a significant association of the haplotype GC (p-value= -6.82x10-5) using the PBAT program. This work confirms that a susceptibility locus to PFA phenotype is located inside SEMA5A. Further studies will be necessary to replicate this association and identify the causal polymorphism.