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The study of how migrants and displaced populations deploy agency has received considerable attention in contemporary research. Questions of how displacement affects people's agency and their opportunities to pursue their aspirations, and the temporal dynamics between displacement, agency and aspiration, however, are still under-researched. By overlooking the dynamics between displacement, agency and aspiration, conflict-induced displacement research has not only failed to understand the ways people's plans and hopes for the future are affected by conflict and displacement but also how displaced people exert agency to rebuild their lives and achieve their aspirations. In order to address these limitations, this thesis looks at how conflict-induced displaced people exert agency to navigate the multiple barriers they encounter in their new place of settlement in order to pursue their aspirations. Drawing on Emirbayer and Mische's (1998) notion of agency, the thesis examines aspirations before and after displacement, and how the research participants deploy the multiple temporalities of agency to navigate the multiple barriers encountered in their community of origin and new place of settlement, in their attempt to attain these aspirations. Drawing on contemporary academic debate on displacement as well as the narratives of internally displaced people in Colombia, I develop a twofold argument: firstly, conflict-induced displacement disrupts an individual's agency and aspirations. Secondly, over time, those displaced are able to exert agency in order to begin to navigate the multiple negative impacts of displacement, with the aim of reconstructing their lives and achieving their aspirations. In developing these two aspects of my argument, I contend that displacement entails material, spatial and temporal dispossession. The findings show that rather than a temporary 'crisis', material, spatial and temporal dispossession often add up to becoming a protracted, often disorientating situation affecting everyday life and the attainment of aspiration. Most displaced people struggle for years to meet their basic needs and to overcome the sense of being out of place, often finding their aspirations either on hold or frustrated for years. However, and without underplaying the multiple negative impacts of displacement and the structures that constrain or enable agency, the thesis also shows that displaced people exert agency at all the different moments and stages of displacement. By questioning the framing of displaced people as individuals perpetually living in crisis, unable to manage their lives or to envisage a future with hope, this research adds to scholarship that conceptualises displacement as a transformative experience. There is no doubt that displacement brings about a sense of loss and of destitution, and that it hurts the body and the soul. However, there is also the potential for it to bring opportunities for change and emancipation. Overall, by looking at how displaced people experience loss and dispossession and how they use their agency to rebuild their lives, this research contributes to unpacking the temporal dynamics between displacement, agency and aspiration.

By the end of the twentieth century, and after a long line of conflicting case law, the question about the basis of liability in nuisance was settled: in Scotland, damages are awarded only upon proof of fault (RHM Bakeries (Scotland) Ltd v Strathclyde Regional Council 1985 SC (HL) 17). Fault, in turn, can adopt many forms: malice, intention, recklessness, negligence, and conduct causing a special risk of abnormal damage (Kennedy v Glenbelle Ltd 1995 SC 95). Many aspects of this seemingly clear picture, however, remain problematic. On the one hand, the way in which this model is interpreted and applied gives place to particular forms of liability that can actually be characterised as strict. On the other hand, two other areas of the law of neighbours that overlap with the scope of nuisance do not fit entirely this model, namely the regulation of disputes over uses of water and of those arising from withdrawal of support. The main argument of this thesis is that damages claims in the context of neighbourhood are governed by two distinct rules: a general fault-based liability rule for nuisance, and an exceptional strict liability rule for abnormally dangerous conduct. For the first of these rules, the thesis offers an evaluation of the fault model adopted in Kennedy v Glenbelle Ltd, explaining the interaction between its different elements and highlighting the developments that can result in forms of strict liability. For the second of these rules, the thesis develops an analysis of its elements and nature, as well as a proposal that delineates its scope of application. This two-rule model offers a justification for the current structure of the law applicable to disputes over uses of water. The strict liability rule applicable to interferences with the natural flow of watercourses, traditionally explained as based upon the infringement of property rights, is better explained as danger-based. The regulation of disputes arising from withdrawal of support, however, is not consistent with this model, even though they have also been characterised as nuisances. It is argued that this framework entails unjustified inconsistencies, both internal and by reference to the model proposed, and that it should be adjusted accordingly.

Conceptual practices developed in Colombia towards the end of the 1960s and into the 1970s. Even a cursory look at surveys of Colombian conceptual art shows that the collective El Sindicato, active between 1976 and 1979, secured its space in these accounts with its 1978 work Alacena con zapatos, which won the top prize at the XXVII Salón Nacional. However, Alacena con zapatos was neither the only, nor the most significant, contribution of El Sindicato to the development of conceptual practices. The collective’s rich oeuvre, while concise, was nonetheless remarkable in its interventions on public spaces as a means for social change. A number of factors have led to the critical misunderstanding and, ultimately, the historiographical neglect of these interventions. This thesis problematizes these factors in order to reframe and expand El Sindicato’s role within the narrative of Colombian art. To elucidate El Sindicato’s contributions, and taking into account that much of Colombian conceptual art remains unknown in the United States, this thesis also registers Colombia’s artistic field as it stood in the 1970s. In all, my project situates El Sindicato’s practices within the broader narrative of Conceptualism as a means to both enrich our understanding of contemporary art in Colombia and help expand the familiar boundaries of the map of conceptual art.

This is a study of the Byzantine novel or Milesian tale in Spain during the 17th century. It contains a brief comment about the origin of this literary mode and the significance of the two adjectives Byzantine and Milesian. Two novels of the Hellenistic originators of this form are discussed. Four Spanish Byzantine novels are considered in chronological order, with summaries and analyses, with particular attention to their similarity to or modification of the prototypes. It is concluded that this particular aspect of 17th century Spanish fiction is a deliberate imitation of the Hellenistic models, modified by the Spanish authors by the addition of original and contemporary ideas. No longer a popular genre, the Byzantine novel made a significant contribution to the development of the modern Spanish novel.