Margit Ystanes

• Ystanes, Margit (2022). The Politics of Innocence: Empathy, Indifference and the 2016 Rio Olympics. In Kleive, Hildegunn Valen; Lillebø, Jonas Gamborg & Sæther, Knut-Willy (Ed.), Møter og mangfold: Religion og kultur i historie, samtid og skole. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISSN 9788202753894. p. 129–147. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit & Magalhães, Alexandre (2020). Racialized governance: The production and destruction of secure spaces in olympic rio de janeiro. Conflict and Society - Advances in Research. ISSN 2164-4543. 6(1), p. 165–182. doi: 10.3167/ARCS.2020.060110. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit & Salem, Tomas (2020). Introduction: Exceptionalism and necropolitical security dynamics in olympic Rio de Janeiro. Conflict and Society - Advances in Research. ISSN 2164-4543. 6(1), p. 52–67. doi: 10.3167/ARCS.2020.060104. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  For more than a decade, urban development in Rio de Janeiro was driven by the urgency of preparations for mega-events such as the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics. During these years, Brazilian authorities used the mega- events to create a state of exception that legitimized a broad range of state security interventions across the city. While Brazilian authorities presented the events as an opportunity to create a modern, dynamic, and socially inclusive city, this special section argues that the security interventions implemented in Rio during the years of Olympic exceptionalism intensified racialized and gendered inequalities and reproduced histor- ical patterns of necropolitical governance that has sought to render black life in Brazil impossible.

• Ystanes, Margit (2018). #sosfavelas: Digital Representations of Violence and Inequality in Rio de Janeiro. In Ystanes, Margit & Strønen, Iselin Åsedotter (Ed.), The Social Life of Economic Inequalities in Contemporary Latin America: Decades of Change. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783319615356. p. 81–105. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-61536-3_4. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit; Strønen, Iselin Åsedotter & Rivera, Lirio Gutiérrez (2018). Coming of Age in the Penal System: Neoliberalism, ‘Mano Dura’ and the Reproduction of ‘Racialised’ Inequality in Honduras. In Ystanes, Margit & Strønen, Iselin Åsedotter (Ed.), The Social Life of Economic Inequalities in Contemporary Latin America: Decades of Change. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783319615356. p. 205–228. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-61536-3_9. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit & Strønen, Iselin Åsedotter (2018). Introduction. In Ystanes, Margit & Strønen, Iselin Åsedotter (Ed.), The Social Life of Economic Inequalities in Contemporary Latin America: Decades of Change. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783319615356. p. 3–34. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2018). Lives Uprooted: Urban Inequality and Olympic Evictions in Rio de Janeiro. Alternautas. 5(1). Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2016). Violence, Fear and Impunity in Post-War Guatemala. In Broch-Due, Vigdis & Bertelsen, Bjørn Enge (Ed.), Violent Reverberations: Global Modalities of Trauma. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783319390482. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-39049-9_9. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit & Broch-Due, Vigdis (2016). “Introduction: Introducing Ethnographies of Trusting”. In Ystanes, Margit & Broch-Due, Vigdis (Ed.), Trusting and its Tribulations: Interdisciplinary Engagements with Intimacy, Sociality and Trust. Berghahn Books. ISSN 9781785330995. p. 1–36. doi: 10.2307/j.ctvpj7h6q.5. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2016). “Unfixed trust: Intimacy, blood symbolism, and porous boundaries in Guatemala”. In Ystanes, Margit & Broch-Due, Vigdis (Ed.), Trusting and its Tribulations: Interdisciplinary Engagements with Intimacy, Sociality and Trust. Berghahn Books. ISSN 9781785330995. p. 37–59. doi: 10.2307/j.ctvpj7h6q.6. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2015). «Problemet er at VI ikke aner hvor dette bærer»: Dystopiske fremtidsforestillinger i sportsarrangementenes tid. Norsk antropologisk tidsskrift. ISSN 0802-7285. 26(3-4), p. 221–239. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2014). “Saving Guatemala's ‘Mayan Forest’: The Environmental Crisis and Contested Development”. In Loftsdottir, Kristin & Jensen, Lars (Ed.), Crisis in the Nordic Nations and Beyond: At the Intersection of Environment, Finance and Multiculturalism. Ashgate. ISSN 9781472425386. p. 121–142. doi: 10.4324/9781315574882-8. Full text in Research Archive

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• Ystanes, Margit (2021). (Mis)trusting Development. Social Struggles and Forest Conservation in Guatemala. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9783030893194. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-89320-0. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit & Strønen, Iselin Åsedotter (2018). The Social Life of Economic Inequalities in Contemporary Latin America: Decades of Change. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9783319615356. 289 p. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-61536-3. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit & Broch-Due, Vigdis (2016). Trusting and its Tribulations: Interdisciplinary Engagements with Intimacy, Sociality and Trust. Berghahn Books. ISBN 9781785330995. 294 p. Full text in Research Archive

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• Ystanes, Margit (2025). En storm i livet: favelafordrivelser i Rio de Janeiro. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Under forberedelsene til OL i Rio de Janeiro i 2016 ble omtrent 22 000 familier fordrevet fra hjemmene sine i marginaliserte bydeler. Byens myndigheter karakteriserte dette som å flytte fattige familier til boligprosjekter av middelklasse-standard, mens berørte beboere har omtalt prosessen som en ødeleggelse av lokalsamfunnet, dets livsbetingelser, og beboernes helse. I ettertid beskrev en av dem fordrivelsen som «en storm i livet», som hadde etterlatt henne i en kontekst hun ikke visste hvordan hun skulle leve i. I denne situasjonen møter personers opplevelse av meningstap og inkoherens strukturelle forhold med dype røtter i kolonial historie og brasiliansk byutvikling, hvor marginaliserte beboere gjennom historien har blitt fordrevet til stadig mer perifere deler av byen. Beboernes motstand mot fordrivelsene tematiserte denne spenningen mellom sammenheng og brudd på forskjellige måter. Dette innlegget tar motstanden som utgangspunkt for en utforsking av mulige antropologiske tilnærminger til fordrivelsene, som en fragmenterende erfaring som samtidig ble forstått av de berørte som strukturelt og historisk forankret.

• Ystanes, Margit; Nordström, Paulina Emilia; Pull, Karl Emil; Scoville-Simonds, Morgan Storm & Huidobro-Goya, Jose Alejandro (2022). Film screening about urban development: struggles for social justice and housing rights. Full text in Research Archive
• Vattøy, Kim-Daniel; Topphol, Arne Kåre; Gamlem, Siv Therese Måseidvåg; Ystanes, Margit & Rogne, Wenke Mork (2021). Orientering frå Arbeidsgruppa for utvikling av fellesemna i 5MAGLU. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2021). (Mis)trusting Development: Social Struggles and Forest Conservation in Guatemala. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit & Goya, José Alejandro Huidobro (2021). Foto og video i etnografisk feltarbeid. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2020). Millar, Kathleen M.: Reclaiming the Discarded. Life and Labor on Rio’s Garbage Dump. Anthropos: Internationale Zeitschrift für Völker- und Sprachenkunde. ISSN 0257-9774. 115(1), p. 249–250. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2020). The Politics of Innocence and Outrage: Social Injustice and the 2016 Olympics. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2020). (Mis)trusting Development: Social Struggles and Forest Conservation in Guatemala. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit; Jacobsen, Christine M.; Gressgård, Randi; Karlsen, Marry-Anne & Ticktin, Miriam (2019). Roundtable: Creativity, Resistance, and Change in Times of Crises: Who is the Subject Speaking? Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2019). Becoming a ‘global city’: displacement, exclusion and urban development in Rio de Janeiro. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit & Goya, José Alejandro Huidobro (2019). Dirty Games: Olympic Evictions in Rio de Janeiro. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2019). Becoming a ‘global city’: displacement, exclusion and urban development in Rio de Janeiro. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit & Cardoso, Rafaela (2018). Marielle Franco, Presente! NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS. ISSN 1071-4839. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit & Huidobro, Goya Jose Alejandro (2017). Screening of the documentary Dirty Games: Olympic Evictions in Rio de Janeiro (co-directed with José Alejandro Huidobro Goya) for anthropology students at the University of Bergen. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit & Huidobro, Goya Jose Alejandro (2017). School screening of the documentary Dirty Games: Olympic Evictions in Rio de Janeiro (co-directed with José Alejandro Huidobro Goya) at Tangen Videregående Skole, Kristiansand. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2017). Presentasjon av filmprosjektet Dirty Games: Olympic Evictions in Rio de Janeiro på arrangementet Pavel’s Juke Joint, Madam Felle, Bergen. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit & Goya, José Alejandro Huidobro (2017). Førpremiere/prøvevisning av dokumentarfilmen Dirty Games: Olympic Evictions in Rio de Janeiro at the seminar The Right to the City: the New Urban Agenda vs Observed Realities in Latin America. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit; Huidobro, Goya Jose Alejandro; Ødegaard, Cecilie; Salem, Tomas & Christopher, Gaffney (2017). Premiere screening of the documentary Dirty Games: Olympic Evictions in Rio de Janeiro (co-directed by José Alejandro Huidobro Goya and Margit Ystanes) and panel debate, at Café Sanaa, Bergen. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit; Huidobro, Goya Jose Alejandro & Cruz-Martinez, Gibran (2017). Screening of the documentary Dirty Games: Olympic Evictions in Rio de Janeiro (co-directed by José Alejandro Huidobro Goya and Margit Ystanes) at Café Mestizo, Kristiansand. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2017). “We are not trash to be thrown away”: Opposing Olympic removals in Rio de Janeiro. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit & Huidobro, Goya Jose Alejandro (2017). Two school screenings of the documentary Dirty Games: Olympic Evictions in Rio de Janeiro at Amalie Skram Videregående Skole. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit & Huidobro, Goya Jose Alejandro (2017). Screening of the documentary Dirty Games: Olympic Evictions in Rio de Janeiro for students of social justice at Salve Regina University, Rhode Island. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit & Huidobro, Goya Jose Alejandro (2017). Documentary screening and department seminar at Department of Social Anthropology, University of Bergen: Dirty Games: Olympic Evictions in Rio de Janeiro. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2017). OL og eksklusjon av fattige i Rio de Janeiro - foredrag ved faglig-pedagogisk dag, UiB. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit; Hahn, Nora; Fagerdal, Ina Martine & Gaffney, Christopher (2017). The Olympic Nightmare. [Journal]. Kula Kula. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit & Salem, Tomas (2017). Visning av dokumentaren Dirty Games: Olympic Evictions in Rio de Janeiro (regissert av José Alejandro Huidobro Goya og Margit Ystanes) ved SAIH-arrangement på Det Akademiske Kvarter, Bergen. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit & Goya, José Alejandro Huidobro (2017). Ett år etter OL i Rio: å miste et hjem. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit & Braathen, Einar (2016). Urban inequality in Latin America – documentary film approaches. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit & Goya, José Alejandro Huidobro (2016). ”Making “Dirty Games”: Researching Urban Inequality through Film”. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit; Braathen, Einar & Bjørn, Anne Kjersti (2016). Film seminar: The Olympic Dream. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2016). ”Drømmen om Rio: OL og VM for hvem?”. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit; Gilsing, Sterre Elisabeth & Medeiros, Thainã de (2016). Living with Olympic Security. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit & Goya, José Alejandro Huidobro (2016). Mediating protest: oppositional uses of social and traditional media. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2016). ”Brazil: Dimensions of Crisis and Perspectives on Opportunities”. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2016). #sosfavela: Digitale representasjoner av vold og ulikhet I OL-byen Rio de Janeiro. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2016). ”Lives Uprooted: Urban Inequality and Forced Evictions in Rio de Janeiro”. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2016). Presentasjon av filmprosjektet Dirty Games: Olympic Evictions in Rio de Janeiro ved SAMKULs programseminar 2016. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit & Strøm, Ole Kristian (2016). Ny rapport: Politiet «ryddet» gatene i Rio for barn og unge til OL. [Journal]. VG. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2016). Olympic Legacy Rio 2016: Forced evictions in Vila Autódromo. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2016). Brasils problematiske OL-arv. Manifest tidsskrift. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2016). O problemático legado das Olimpíadas no Rio de Janeiro. Tradução de matéria originalmente publicado em norueguês por Manifest Tidsskrift. Manifest tidsskrift. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2016). ”#urbanizaja: social media and the dynamics of protest in the Olympic city Rio de Janeiro”. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2015). #sosfavela: Representações digitais da violência e desigualdade no Rio de Janerio. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2015). #sosfavelas: Digital Representations of Violence and Inequality in Rio de Janeiro. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2015). ”Copa pra Quem? (Who is the World Cup for?): Social Fragmentation and Anti-World Cup Activism”. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2014). Unni Wikan: Resonance: Beyond the Words. Norsk antropologisk tidsskrift. ISSN 0802-7285. p. 58–60. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2013). A Crisis of Trust: Saving Guatemala's 'Mayan' Forest. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2013). Participatory development: equal collaboration between unequal partners? Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2013). Trust as a precondition for socio-economic development - what can we learn from the case of Brazil? Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2013). Poverty: how is it produced and how do we think about it? Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2013). Trust as a precondition for socio-economic development - what can we learn from the case of Brazil? Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2013). Violence and Mistrust in Post-War Guatemala. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2013). Poverty relief and development interventions: intended and unintended outcomes. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2012). “A crisis of trust: saving Guatemala’s ‘Mayan forest’”. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2012). Contested landscapes and natural resources. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2012). Roundtable debate about “The Resource Curse”. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2012). “Unfixed Trust: Intimacy, Blood Symbolism and Porous Boundaries in Guatemala”. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2012). Gender relations in Guatemala and Latin America. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2012). Conceptions of poverty and disparity. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2012). Poverty, hierarchy and development in Latin America. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2011). Poverty and disparity in Latin America. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2011). Multi-sector collaboration and the conditions for trust in Guatemala. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2011). Conceptions of poverty and disparity. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2011). Contested landscapes and natural resources. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2011). Dismantling the Singular Trusting Subject: a Comparative Exploration of Trust in Guatemala and Norway. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2011). Etnicidad, raza y jerarquías en América Latina. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2011). Perspectivas sobre género en América Latina. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2010). Perspectivas sobre género en América Latina. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2010). Etnicidad, raza y jerarquías en América Latina. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2009). Relaciones étnicas en América Latina. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2009). Estudios de genero en América Latina. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2009). "Fattigdom, ressursfordeling og maktforskjeller". Workshop on processes producing poverty and inequality in the Global South for teenage members of Norges Musikkorps Forbund, part of their programme “Bands Crossing Borders” – exchange and cooperation between NMF and Field Band Foundation of South Africa. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2009). "Miljø, befolkning og urbanisering - antropologiske perspektiver". Full text in Research Archive
• Aasen, Randi Løseth & Ystanes, Margit (2020). Ein studie av kvinner i etableringsfasen. Eit kjønnsperspektiv på fråflyttingsproblematikken. Høgskulen i Volda. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Sentralisering er eit aktuelt tema i Noreg. Folk har flytta frå små stader ganske lenge, men ein legg meir merke til det no. Det tek til å vise att på landsbygda. I denne oppgåva har eg eit kjønnsperspektiv og eg studerer kvinner. Eg ynskjer å utforske kvifor nokre vel som dei gjer, analysert gjennom tre aksar: klasse, utdanning og kjønn. Teorien er knytt til kvar av dei tre aksane. Eg har brukt etablert teori, biografiar og statistikk. Problemstillinga er: Kva kan vere avgjerande for at ei kvinne vel å bli buande i heimbygda eller flyttar til ein by? Dei tre forskingsspørsmåla er: 1. Korleis definerer unge kvinner frå ulike sosiale lag eit godt liv, og opplever dei å havalfridom til å velje kva dei vil bli og kvar dei vil bu uavhengig av familiebakgrunn? 2. Kva kan påverke unge kvinner sine val, og erfarer dei at høgare utdanning kan endre deirabilete av seg sjølv og kvar dei opplever å høyre til? 3. Korleis kan unge kvinner definere si eiga rolle i heimbygda, og likevel kjenne segakseptert? Eg har brukt kvalitativ metode, og har intervjua åtte unge kvinner. For å bevare anonymiteten til kvinnene, har eg brukt pseudonym. Nokre stader har eg endra på utsegner, for å gjere det umogleg å kjenne dei att. Ei enorm mengde faktorar kan ha påverknad på to av dei viktigaste vala i kvinner sine liv: Kva utdanning ho skal ta, og kvar ho skal etablere seg. Eg var først og fremst ute etter informantane mine sine personlege erfaringar. Deretter at oppgåva kanskje kunne leie til større forståing, eller råd til politikarar og planleggarar. Utifrå materialet mitt, kan det sjå ut som om det er ulikskap mellom dei som tek høgare utdanning og dei som ikkje gjer det, og kva dei ser på som viktigast i livet sitt. Dei som ikkje tek høgare utdanning ser ut til å vere meir opptekne av dei nære ting, som å vere fornøgd, vere lukkeleg og ha nok, medan ein hos dei med høgare utdanning finn nemnt det å tene nok, og vere sikra jobb. Informantane mine som er bevisst på at dei vil bu i heimbygda i framtida, vel ei utdanning der får jobb i lokalt. Andre vel å utdanne seg i det dei trivest med, utan tanke på kvar dei får seg jobb, og det kan vere eit resultat av tilfeldige val. Kva du vel kan vere kjønnsbestemt, slik som i resten av landet. Informantane mine som bur i små bygdesamfunn, vel meir tradisjonelt utifrå kjønn enn dei som bur i by. Å bu i ei bygd kan på den eine sida bli oppfatta som trygt, på den andre sida som om ein blir overvaka. Å skilje seg ut er ikkje enkelt. Det betyr mykje dersom ein har nettverk og familie som bekreftar og backar deg opp.

• Dzorka, Gifty & Ystanes, Margit (2016). Food Self-Sufficiency and Partnership in Agricultural Production in Ghana. A case study of the Fievie Rice Project. Universitetet i Bergen. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Abstract Poverty eradication and food security issues are central to most international development policies and developing countries including Ghana. International and national policies encourage investments in the agricultural sector, as a major means to reduce poverty and ensure food security. Lands in Sub-Saharan Africa have been declared empty and unutilized, which makes Africa the best corridor for such agricultural investments. However, large tracts of land acquisition through outright sale or long term lease with little or no compensation is in turn generating tension and conflicts at the local contexts where such agricultural projects take place. The central focus of this study is to explore how partnership between foreign investors and community members affects agricultural productivity and its implications for food self-sufficiency at the national and local contexts in Ghana. The trajectory of most of the agricultural investment projects have ended in tragedy due to lack of a good working relationship between land owners and users on the one side, and investors on the other side. Some of these investments also have international market targets (biofuel production) and do not benefit the local people directly. Using the Fievie rice project as a case study, my fieldwork reveals that, the community used its land as a tool to enter into partnership with the investor company (Global Agric-Development Company). The community is entitled to 2.5% of the gross income of the project and reserves the right to take back the land within three months of non-production. An out-grower programme has been developed for some community members. However, there is a shift in attention from the main staple crop (maize) to rice production for the participants. Also, labourers of the rice project (with meagre wages) are abandoning their farmlands due to the time and energy demands of the project. The people are allowed to glean on the rice farm. There was enormous dietary transformation in Fievie from akple to rice. Drawing on phenomenological and political ecology approaches as tools of analysis, I argue that, the Fievie rice participatory project, only works to an extent and to the advantage of people with power and the affluent in the global structure, at the detriment of the less advantaged. Also, local people's interests, meaning and values ascribed to food were not considered, prior to the commencement of the project. Although rice has become available to the people, it is transforming their culturally significative diet; akple. Additionally, the rice project might have boosted national food security, however, it is at the same time generating, maintaining and improving [existing] social, economic and political inequalities within the local structure. It further works to cripple existing self-reliance efforts of subsistence farmers. I argue that, the Fievie partnership is significant in controlling conflicts and land grabs, yet, it is a novel configuration of capitalism, and not a suitable tool for development.

• Isleny, Bedoya Lopez Ruth & Ystanes, Margit (2016). Family, Immigration and Policy: The effects of family reunification policies on Latino-Norwegian families. Universitetet i Bergen. Full text in Research Archive
• Ystanes, Margit (2016). “Mega-Events and Urban Poverty: Legacy Projects in Rio de Janeiro”. CROP Poverty Brief. Full text in Research Archive
• Gyan, Augustine & Ystanes, Margit (2016). Conditions and Identities of Young Migrant Workers in the City: An Ethnographic study of ‘Street Children’ in Kumasi, Ghana. Universitetet i Bergen. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Abstract Earlier studies on streetism' or street children' have often focused exclusively on the economic causes and impacts. Economic considerations have often assumed a more prominent position in explaining why children decide to leave their family home to seek for a livelihood on the street, while socio-cultural dimensions recede to the background. An approach uncovering the life-worlds of children involved in streetism, their socio-cultural and economic backgrounds and diverse combination of motivations that drive children with certain identities into the practice, seldom feature prominently in anthropological research. A research approach that illuminates the concept of childhood' in particular sociocultural contexts provide promising avenues for a rich analysis of why particular children are often involved in streetism. Drawing on a six-month long ethnographic fieldwork, my study examines the life-worlds of street children in Ghana's second largest city, Kumasi. The extensive ethnographic approach helped me to follow up on the daily routines and life-worlds of children during the six month long fieldwork, a task which would have been impossible to achieve if I had done only short term observations and interviews. Furthermore, my study interrogates the concept of childhood' in Ghana, explores the socio-economic identity of street children in Kumasi, and then illuminates diverse motivations that drive the children to the street'. The term street' is often used to denote stays outside of parental homes or where the lives of children are not properly supervised and monitored. I used the findings of my study to demonstrate the complexities involved regarding this conventional definition of who can be considered as a street child. In this thesis, I argue that a complex combination of factors (both social and economic) operate in tandem to explain why children from certain socio-economic and cultural backgrounds become susceptible to situations that compels them to make a living outside of their parental homes, or places of abode without proper supervision or social upbringing. In addition, my study elucidates on the numerous economic activities the children often engage in on the street. Using James and Prout (1997) Social Theory of Childhood, I demonstrate in the thesis that street children should not be seen as passive, incomplete and incompetent but rather active in terms of the determination and construction of their own lives vis-a-vis those around them and the society at large. Also, the life-worlds of the children have been explored using Granovetter's Social Network Theory (1983). Using these two broad theoretical perspectives, I argue that street children in Kumasi have created their own institutions that ensure their survival on the street. Also, the great majority of street children are girls. In addition to this, I show that migration has led to changes in economic roles by girls as these girls are the breadwinners and substantially contribute to the survival of their siblings back home, while the boys primarily provide for themselves. Moreover, I show in this thesis that, social factors often precede economic ones for being on the street and that the family' serves as the root cause to the streetism phenomenon. Finally, I argue that some of the children migrate to the street for prestige. The euphoria attached to travelling to the city to also be labelled as have...

• Namiiro, Mariam & Ystanes, Margit (2016). The Socio-Economic Impact of Migration on The Livelihoods of Karamajong Women And Children: Katwe Slums. ‘A Woman is a Warrior’. Universitetet i Bergen. Full text in Research Archive
• Jelínek, Matous & Ystanes, Margit (2016). Roma Children in a Vicious Circle. Social Exclusion and Low-Threshold Clubs in the Locality Bratislavská/Cejl, Brno, Czech Republic. Universitetet i Bergen. Full text in Research Archive
• Lien, Yngvil Sandal & Ystanes, Margit (2014). "Isso é nossa realidade" (This is our reality): Beyond images of Amazonia. Universitetet i Bergen. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This thesis explores the images and representations of Amazonia as a tropical rain forest, and how they influence the way people tend to picture the area. Shaped through trajectories of history, national expansion and environmentalism, these images comes into being through actions; the way the Brazilian state and development organisations have established projects in the area. Having been described as an uninhabited, tropical rain forest, only inhabited by the pristine Amerindians, the non-indigenous part of the population has become invisible in these representations. My fieldwork was carried out in an island community outside Belém, the provincial capital of Pará, and explores the resource management the local islanders practiced in their livelihoods. Combining spheres of urban, rural, traditional and modern aspects, the islanders carried out their livelihoods in small-scale, multi-use strategies combining different sectors, and as I argue throughout my thesis, in sustainable manners. They were modern resource managers; taking advantage of the local knowledge of their given landscape. Working with a local women's movement concerned with acknowledging women's participation in agricultural livelihoods gave me insight in women's role in livelihood activities. The way modern and traditional knowledge and techniques were combined proved local communities in Amazonia to be important in relation to sustainable development projects, and should be included in the overarching image of Amazonia.

• Rokne, Veronika & Ystanes, Margit (2014). "All they want is to be treated well": Public health care in the rural Ecuadorian Andes. Universitetet i Bergen. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Abstract In thesis I describe the meeting between biomedical health care and indigenous patients in rural Ecuadorian Andes. I show how biomedical conceptualization of health and good treatment differs from local understandings. Ecuador is a hierarchical society, where marginalization of the indigenous population has become naturalized. In the community where I did my fieldwork this marginalization became visible through health care. Firstly rural areas have been, and are, under prioritized in terms of staff and medical equipment. Secondly, poverty is a huge strain on the peasants' health. Hard work wears their bodies out, and they have no access to safe drinking water. At the public health clinics the patients are met by a doctor who often scolds them for not taking care of themselves rather than addressing their illness. Many patients are afraid of the doctor, who in turn is frustrated because the patients do not come to the clinic, making it necessary to seek them out in their homes. At first glance the distance between patients and doctor seem enormous. But there are health agents who can bridge this distance. Auxiliares de enfermería (nursing assistants) mediate between biomedicine and Andean conceptualizations of health and sickness. They are trusted by the patients, and work to encourage them to seek out public health care. In this thesis I argue that until medical doctors are able to be culturally sensitive, it is vital for good health care to employ local health agents. At my fieldsite this role was filled by the auxiliares de enfermería, who not only assisted the doctor and translated for her, but functioned as medical authorities in the communities. Their work bridged the gap between patients and doctor, local beliefs and biomedical practices.

• Castilla, Johana Evelyn Montalvan & Ystanes, Margit (2014). Public education in latin america's lowest performing country. The Impact of inequality and violence among children and youth in Lima and Cusco in Peru. Universitetet i Bergen. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Measurements of learning outcomes have found that too many children in Peru are graduating from primary school without having achieved competency in literacy or numeracy (Barrett, 2009). Results show that seven out of ten elementary school pupils cannot understand what they read and about nine out of ten struggle doing mathematics at the expected level. In order to raise school performance, state policies have largely focused on improving schools' infrastructures, changing curricular designs and on trying to update the knowledge of teachers. This thesis argues that besides those factors, numerous socioeconomic issues which hamper school performance should be addressed. Among them, inequality (predominantly poverty) and the prevalence of corporal punishment toward children should be acted upon if higher school performance is desired. My argument is that most children and youth try to balance life and school. They study, work and help their families with daily chores. As this desired balance often proves to be unattainable, going to school is perceived as a burden and instills a deep sense of inadequacy among students.

• Nielsen, Anja Karin & Ystanes, Margit (2014). Managing the threat of violence in Guatemala: Violence as part of women's everyday lives. Universitetet i Bergen. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In this thesis I explore the prevalence of violence against women in Guatemala. Violence is considered a part of everyday life because it has become normalized. By normal" I refer to both the frequency of the act and its perceived legitimacy. Due to this normalization, much violence is considered something women should simply endure. Although women suffer different types of violence, I argue that they must be seen within the same framework and I show how violence in public and private sphere cannot be separated. Violent practices have become normatively supported, largely based on gender expectations, such as women's morality. Gender inequalities have not only enabled normalization, but to a large degree societal acceptance of violence. The result has been that women have often been blamed for violence perpetrated against them, particularly those who transgress moral and physical gender boundaries. There is a widespread notion that violence rarely happens to good women". Gender ideology permeates much of Guatemalan society, both on the street, in the home, in the courtroom, and at the scene of the crime. Impunity has reigned in cases of violence and women's (perceived) morality has affected the outcome of investigations. I explore how some women have not been considered worthy" victims (as opposed to others), largely based on morality, class, and ethnicity. I show how there is a continuum of violence in women's lives. Violence is not only prevalent, but women experience several types of violence on an everyday basis. Because both the home and the street" present palpable dangers to women, and because violence in the street penetrates the perceived safety of the home, there are no safe-zones" in women's lives. What becomes important, then, is managing the constant threat of violence and fear. I explore women's fear as political fear because societal structures have enabled normalization of violence against women.

• Ystanes, Margit (2011). Precarious Trust. Problems of Managing Self and Sociality in Guatemala. Universitetet i Bergen. Full text in Research Archive

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