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- Cedering, Magdalena, 1972-
(author)
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Konsekvenser av skolnedläggningar : En studie av barns och barnfamiljers vardagsliv i samband med skolnedläggningar i Ydre kommun
- 2016
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Many rural village schools have closed over the years, both in Sweden and internationally, because of urbanisation, centralisation and the quest for efficiency. This study shows the impact of two school closures in the rural area of Ydre, south-east Sweden, and describes the reactions of children and families concerned. The aim is to analyse what rural village schools mean for everyday life and how such meaning is based on time-spatial everyday stories. How the children and families view the school closures emerges in the time-geographic perspective, on their own terms, given their opportunity to demonstrate how they use different time-space components. This was studied by interviewing and sketching mental maps with 28 pupils of various ages, and by interviewing and drawing up weekly time schedules with 12 families. This also enabled the analyses to be extended, using the time-geographic conceptual framework, and in particular the interplay between structural changes and individuals’ day-to-day lives, and the interconnections between school and private life, to be clarified.One conclusion is that a school is no mere teaching venue. It is also a key meeting place for children, part of community life and a space for social networking and daily decision-making: a local community hub for the children and their parents alike. When a local school closes and the pupils need to travel further for schooling elsewhere, it affects their travel and activity patterns and social networks. Children’s drawings express their perceptions of place, time and distance. This study shows that the locations where children spend time and have their social networks, as well as how and how often they travel on particular routes, are crucial for their assessment of distance, both temporal and spatial.Describing the value of the closure-threatened school, parents express concern about their local village. They stress the importance of the village school, which they regard as excellent, unique and a resource for the family, but also for the community as a whole. Thereby, they highlight their hope that their community will be attractive to visitors, and also to themselves, the residents. The threats of closure upset them and provoke discussions on how to sustain a living countryside. Studies of children’s and families’ experience of school closures pinpoint the complexity of rural life and show it in a more human-centred, everyday light. Since children are absent from the municipal closure procedure, views of children’s participation are also discussed.
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- Cedering, Magdalena, 1972-
(author)
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Skolnedläggningar på landsbygden : Konsekvenser för vardagsliv och lokalsamhälle
- 2012
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Licentiate thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Living in the countryside can be complex and is often a matter of daily movements in order to make all activities fit into one’s life. The structure of everyday life is also about the interplay between political decisions and physical structures. This thesis shows the consequences of change to the rural landscape for daily life. In this case, the change was brought about by the closure of two rural schools in Ydre, Sweden. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the meaning of rural schools in the development of local society and identity, and how such meaning is based on people’s time-spatial everyday stories. The study focuses on how households interpret change and the problems that arise from the closure of rural schools. Studying this is accomplished through interviews with twelve households with schoolchildren of varying ages and is based on a time-geographical perspec-tive. In the spring of 2009, qualitative interviews were carried out concerning rural life and the possible effect of closure-threatened schools on their daily lives. In the autumn of 2009, the schools were closed, and the same families were visited and the household studies fol-lowed up with further interviews. Thus, the study investigates local circumstances, how householders adapt to structural changes, how this creates patterns in their everyday lives and activities, and how schools and private life are connected. One conclusion here is that the householders are concerned about their local community. They highlight the importance of the rural school, which they consider exclusive and not just a resource for the children but the community as a whole. Thereby, they highlight their hope that their area is seen as attractive by visitors; by people looking for somewhere to settle down; and also by themselves, the inhabitants. A school is not just a place for teaching; it is also an important place where parents can meet; it is a part of social life; and it is a place where social networks are created and decisions about everyday life are made. Through stud-ies of the school closures and people’s everyday experiences, some of the complexities of countryside life and problems appear in a more human-centred and everyday perspective.
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- Dawidson, Karin E. K., 1975-
(author)
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Property fragmentation : Redistribution of land and housing during the Romanian democratisation process
- 2004
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- In the context of democratisation in the early 1990s, the governments in Central and East Europe (CEE) had to decide how to deal with property that had been confiscated under state socialism. Nationalised housing and collectivised land were to a varying extent returned to former owners and their heirs by means of restitution, as well as being distributed to other citizens who were in possession of the users’ rights to such properties. This thesis examines the spatial impacts, in terms of ownership patterns, of the way the redistribution of nationalised housing and collectivised land has been dealt with politically and at the local level in post-socialist Romania. It also locates the Romanian property reforms in relation to those of the rest of CEE. The impact of political directives on the property redistribution is analysed in relation to both structural influences, such as democratisation and antecedent property regimes, and implementation patterns in varied place-contexts. The thesis demonstrates that restitution was stifled due to disagreements between leftist and rightist political blocs, with the latter arguing for restitution whilst their opponents wrote the first restitution laws. A re-privatisation law allowed for the public sale of nationalised housing to tenants and thereby blocked the implementation of a restitution law, thus constituting a dilemma for constitutional democracy. In liberal place-contexts in West Romania, these obstacles to housing restitution were in part avoided. By contrast, land restitution was most widespread in the east, a stronghold of the left. This was because the legislation gives priority to restitution in areas of this kind, where smaller land-holdings dominated prior to 1945. The left-wing government pursued an electoral strategy of distributing small properties to a large number of citizens, and to current users in particular. This resulted in a fragmentation of historical property.
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- Gerger, Torvald, et al.
(author)
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Häftets uppläggning och innehåll
- 1983
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In: Bebyggelsehistorisk tidskrift. - : Föreningen Bebyggelsehistorisk tidskrift. - 0349-2834 .- 2002-3812. ; :5, s. 3-4
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Journal article (other academic/artistic)
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- Grubbström, Ann, 1967-, et al.
(author)
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Attitudes towards landed property among local and absentee landowners in North West Estonia
- 2009
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The coastal region of North-West Estonia has a great potential for summer tourism and second homes. During the Soviet period it was a military zone as well as national property and in consequence not exploited for other purposes than strategically. The restitution process of the 1990´s has returned some of the land to former owners and their heirs, while other parts have been sold through public auctions. The descendants of the pre-Soviet landowners, who have had their land restituted, to a large extent live abroad or in remote towns. An intensive land market has developed and exploitation has taken place, at the same time as there is competition between those who want to build summer cottages, those who want to build wind power plants and those who want to restrict use in order to preserve the valuable landscapes and the habitat. Three main types of private landowners can be identified: First, those with restituted land and have strong emotional bonds to the property of their ancestors and are often unwilling to sell, even though many, at least of those absentees living far away, hardly utilise their domains for anything but a small summer cottage. Secondly, those who prefer the rural calm and forests and build their houses as remotely as possible. Finally, there are urban dwellers for whom rural traditions of behaviour mean little and who have bought an attractive plot for a considerable sum of money, on the other hand, have rapidly built a house, not infrequently within the prohibited 100 m coastal zone, and love to fence off hikers, campers and tourists with fences and signs indicating that this is private land. The private landowner study is based on a postal survey and interviews. In the paper, we discuss the conflicting interests between the private landowners and the public interests, and how they might affect present and future land use and landscape development.
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- Grubbström, Ann, 1967-
(author)
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Sillar och mullvadar : Jordägande och etnicitet i Estlands svenskbygder 1816-1939
- 2003
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This dissertation focuses on the Swedish minority that settled in Estonia in early medieval times. It illustrates the importance of linking the survival of an ethnic group with the issue of land ownership. The ethnic composition and settlement patterns of Swedes and Estonians are analysed from a long-term perspective. Particular attention is paid to the impact of the process of land purchase, which took place primarily at the end of the 19th century, and the land reform of 1919. The study is based on both archival sources and interview material. This has allowed for ethnic status, as recorded in various written documents, to be related to the population’s own views on ethnic identity.Research shows that the major in-migration of Estonians to the previously Swedish areas took place in connection with the transition from corvée duties to wage labour during the second half of the 19th century. Estonians generally lived close to the estates or as cottagers in the villages whereas the majority of the Swedish inhabitants were tenants. Land purchases led to an increase in the number of Estonian farm heads in a majority of the villages. Some of the Estonian families that bought farms were newcomers. Landless Estonian estate workers and cottagers were also given the opportunity to buy farms on the estates where they lived. Another factor that serves to explain the numerous Estonian land purchases is that a number of Swedes switched ethnic status, especially in connection with marriage. The land reform of 1919 did not generally lead to any more substantial in-migration of Estonians into the Swedish villages. It appears that the best opportunities for the retention of Swedish ethnicity were found in villages where few Estonians had purchased farms and where there was thus a high degree of continuity within the Swedish population. This study discusses the relations between Swedes and Estonians, or “herrings” and “moles” as they called each other in school. It analyses the ways in which the Swedish population group was influenced by the increasing size of the Estonian population and argues that Swedes who switched ethnic status and language could nonetheless retain a strong sense of their Swedish identity.
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