South Asia (south + asia)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


EXPORT-LED GROWTH HYPOTHESIS: FURTHER ECONOMETRIC EVIDENCE FROM SOUTH ASIA

THE DEVELOPING ECONOMIES, Issue 4 2005
NASIM SHAH SHIRAZI
This paper examines the export-led growth (ELG) hypothesis for five South Asian countries through cointegration and multivariate Granger causality tests. Strong support for a long-run relationship among exports, imports, and real output for all the countries except Sri Lanka were found. Feedback effects between exports and GDP for Bangladesh and Nepal and unidirectional causality from exports to output in the case of Pakistan were found. No causality between these variables was found for Sri Lanka and India, although for India GDP and exports did induce imports. A feedback effect between imports and GDP was also documented for Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal, as well as unidirectional causality from imports to output growth for Sri Lanka. These and other findings are discussed from the standpoint of the export-led growth hypothesis. [source]


Safety Nets and Opportunity Ladders: Addressing Vulnerability and Enhancing Productivity in South Asia

DEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 5 2002
Naila Kabeer
As patterns of poverty and vulnerability in South Asia change, households have to balance immediate needs and long,term goals. For the poor, these choices, and the costs of precautionary measures, are particularly acute and call for suitable government policies. While policy,makers face a number of trade,offs between promotion, prevention and protection goals, careful design can maximise the potential to reconcile these objectives. A review of experience suggests a number of lessons regarding the relative benefits of targeted and universal programmes; the need to differentiate microfinance products for different groups amongst the poor; ways of basing the self,targeting of public works on rights rather than stigma; and the influence of political processes (such as decentralisation) for the overall effectiveness of social protection. [source]


Areca nut use following migration and its consequences

ADDICTION BIOLOGY, Issue 1 2002
S. Warnakulasuriya
The combined use of areca nut and smokeless tobacco (ST) is practiced particularly in the Indo-Chinese continents. While there is considerable global variation in the use of these products, migrant studies relevant to areca nut use is of considerable interest to epidemiologists in suggesting the extent to which these environment exposures are important in the aetiology of different cancers and other health-related consequences. Studies on Indian migrants to the Malay peninsula, South and east Africa and various Asian ethnic groups resident in several parts of the United Kingdom have shown that the consumption of areca nut (often mixed with ST) is highly prevalent in these communities. Available data on the prevalence of areca chewing among these migrant populations are reviewed here. The carriage of these risk factors from South Asia to other countries has resulted in excess risk of oral cancer in these new settlements. There is also a high incidence of cardiovascular disease, hypertension and late onset diabetes among Indians living in the United Kingdom and there is new evidence to suggest that the combined roles of areca and ST may be contributory. Because of their enhanced financial situation, substance abuse may increase in their new country of domicile. The two products are psychologically addictive and a dependency syndrome related to their use among Asian immigrants to the United Kingdom has been described recently. [source]


Tracking ,Same,Sex Love' from Antiquity to the Present in South Asia

GENDER & HISTORY, Issue 1 2002
Rosemary Marangoly George
This essay focuses on the anthology Same,Sex Love in India: Readings from Literature and History (2000), edited by Ruth Vanita and Saleem Kidwai. Unlike many other recently published, celebratory ,gay anthologies', this book contributes to ongoing scholarly work on specific same,sex erotic practices and relations in historical and cultural context. We examine issues relevant to this anthology and other such projects: the use of ,love' and ,same,sex' as (stable) signifiers over centuries; the validity of interpreting social reality through literary texts from the period; the difficulties of locating ,love' in severely hierarchical, even slave,owning, societies; and the implications of using such anthologies in the classroom. [source]


Infant mortality and child nutrition in Bangladesh

HEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 9 2008
Diane Dancer
Abstract The excess female infant mortality observed in South Asia has typically been attributed to gender discrimination in the intra-household allocation of food and medical care. However, studies on child nutrition find no evidence of gender differences. A natural explanation could be that in environments of high infant mortality of females, the surviving children are healthier, so that child nutrition cannot be studied independently of mortality. In this paper, we use data from the 2004 Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey to investigate if there are any gender differences in survival probabilities and whether this leads to differences in child nutrition. We argue the importance of establishing whether or not there exists a dependence relationship between the two random variables , infant mortality and child nutrition , and in order to detect this we employ a copula approach to model specification. The results suggest, for example, that while male children have a significantly lower likelihood of surviving their first year relative to female children, should they survive they have significantly better height-for-age Z -scores. From a policy perspective, household wealth and public health interventions such as vaccinations are found to be important predictors of better nutritional outcomes. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Molecular Epidemiology and Outcome of Helicobacter pylori Infection in Thailand: a Cultural Cross Roads

HELICOBACTER, Issue 5 2004
Ratha-Korn Vilaichone
ABSTRACT Background., Thailand is at the cultural cross roads between East and South Asia. It has been suggested that this is also the region where the predominant Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) genotype changes from East Asian to South Asian. Methods., We compared the molecular epidemiology and outcome of H. pylori infections among different ethnic groups in Thailand (Thai, Thai-Chinese and Chinese). H. pylori isolates were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction based on cagA, cag right end junction and vacA genotypes. Results., Ninety-eight isolates from 38 ethnic Thai, 20 ethnic Chinese and 40 Thai-Chinese were categorized into East Asian (45%), South/Central Asian (26%), Western (1%) or mixed type (29%). The East Asian genotype was the most common among Chinese (85%) and Thai-Chinese (55%) (p < .01 compared to ethnic Thai). The ethnicity of the mother among mixed Thai-Chinese marriages predicted the genotype of the child's H. pylori (e.g. when the mother was Chinese, 84% had East Asian type vs. 29% when the mother was Thai) (p < .001). Gastric cancer was common among ethnic Chinese with East Asian genotype (e.g. all Chinese with gastric cancer or peptic ulcer disease had East Asian genotype, whereas only 40% of Chinese with gastritis had this genotype). Conclusions., Immigration, intermarriage and the variety of H. pylori genotypes in Thailand suggest that Thailand is an ideal site for epidemiological studies attempting to relate H. pylori genotypes and host factors to outcome. Our data also support the hypothesis that the primary caretaker of the children is most likely the source of the infection. [source]


Historical Anthropology of Modern India

HISTORY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 3 2007
Saurabh Dube
The last three decades have seen acute interchanges between history and anthropology in theoretical and empirical studies. Scholarship on South Asia has reflected these patterns, but it has also reworked such tendencies. Here, significant writings of the 1960s and 1970s brought together processes of history and patterns of culture as part of mutual fields of analysis and description. These emphases have been critically developed more recently. Anthropologists and historians have rethought theory and method, in order not only to crucially conjoin but to explore anew the ,archive' and the ,field'. The blending has produced ,historical anthropology': writings that approach and explain in new ways elaborations of caste and community, colonialism and empire, nation and nationalism, domination and resistance, law and politics, myth and kingship, environment and ethnicity, and state and modernity , in the past and the present. Work in historical anthropology focuses on practice, process, and power, and often combines perspectives from gender, postcolonial, and subaltern studies. [source]


Nabobs Revisited: A Cultural History of British Imperialism and the Indian Question in Late-Eighteenth-Century Britain

HISTORY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 4 2006
Tillman W. Nechtman
Studies of the late eighteenth-century British empire in India have long used the figure of the nabob to personify political debates collectively known as "the India question." These nabobs, employees of the East India Company, were (and continue to be) represented as rapacious villains. This article will revisit the history of nabobs to offer a cultural history of British imperialism in late eighteenth-century India. It will argue that nabobs were representative figures in the political debates surrounding imperialism in South Asia because they were hybrid figures who made Britain's empire more real to domestic British observers. It will argue that the nabobs' hybrid identity hinged on the collection of material artifacts they brought back to Britain from India. Nabobs stood at the boundary between nation and empire, and they suggested the frontier was permeable. They exposed the degree to which the projects of building a nation and an empire were mutually constitutive. [source]


Karakorum,Hindukush,western Himalaya: assessing high-altitude water resources

HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES, Issue 12 2005
M. Winiger
Abstract The high mountains of Central and South Asia provide irrigation water for their adjacent lowlands. The Indus Irrigation Scheme depends on approximately 50% of its runoff originating from snowmelt and glacier melt from the eastern Hindukush, Karakorum and western Himalaya. The Atlas of Pakistan indicates that these mountains gain a total annual rainfall of between 200 and 500 mm, amounts that are generally derived from valley-based stations and not representative for elevated zones. High-altitude snowfall seems to be neglected and is obviously still rather unknown. Estimates derived from accumulation pits runoff above 4000 m range from 1000 mm to more than 3000 mm, depending on the site and time of investigation, as well as on the method applied. To assess the vertical spatio-temporal distribution of total annual precipitation, a combined approach is presented. This approach links in situ measurements of snow depth and water equivalent (10-year time series derived from automatic weather stations at elevations between 1500 and 4700 m a.s.l.), the spatial distribution and period of snow coverage (remotely sensed data and digital elevation models), and the runoff characteristics of streams originating from snow or snow/ice-covered watersheds (modified snowmelt runoff model, including intermediate snowfall and glacier runoff). Based on conservative assumptions, the vertically changing seasonal ratio between liquid and solid precipitation is calculated. Using a combined snow cover and ablation model, total annual amounts of precipitation are derived for different altitudinal zones. Amounts of modelled and measured runoff complement the investigation. Horizontal gradients along the Indus,Gilgit,Hunza transect indicate the varying dominance of seasonal precipitation regimes (monsoonal, Mediterranean and continental disturbances) south of Nanga Parbat, between Nanga Parbat and Batura Wall (=West Karakorum rainfall regime: 1500,1800 mm year,1 at 5000 m) and areas north of Batura (=Central Asian rainfall regime: ,600 mm year,1 at 5000 m). Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Genetic differentiation between three ecological variants (,type', ,mysorensis' and ,intermediate') of malaria vector Anopheles stephensi (Diptera: Culicidae)

INSECT SCIENCE, Issue 4 2010
Vipin
Abstract,Anopheles stephensi is the main vector of urban malaria in South Asia. Three ecological variants (,type', ,mysorensis'and,intermediate') of An. stephensi have been reported on the basis of ecology and egg morphology. However, it is unclear if there is any genetic isolation between the three variants. We analyzed the three variants of An. stephensi using eight microsatellite loci and found that large and significant genetic differentiation exists between them (mean FST= 0.393 and mean RST= 0.422). Pairwise estimates of genetic differentiation between the variants were ,type' versus ,mysorensis' (mean FST= 0.411 and mean RST= 0.308), ,type' versus ,intermediate' (mean FST= 0.388 and mean RST= 0.518) and ,intermediate' versus ,mysorensis' (mean FST= 0.387 and mean RST= 0.398) and all were statistically significant (P < 0.05). The greater sensitivity of RST in differentiation indicated that mutations and not genetic drift had generated the differences between three variants of An. stephensi. The present study indicated large genetic differentiation and presence of non-significant low level of gene flow between the three variants (,type', ,mysorensis'and,intermediate') of An. stephensi. [source]


Trends in hospital-based management of acute asthma from a teaching hospital in South Asia

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PRACTICE, Issue 8 2005
S. F. Hussain
Summary The aim of this study is to evaluate the hospital-based management of acute asthma in south Asia and to compare practices over a 10-year period. Adult patients (n = 102) admitted at a teaching hospital with acute asthma were studied. Documentation of precipitating factors, family history and physical signs were inadequate in more than half of patients. Pulse oximetry was documented in 95 (93%) patients, but peak flow monitoring was performed only in 50 (49%) patients. Ten-year trend showed deterioration in history and physical examination skills, under use of peak flow readings, and poor pre-discharge instructions. Some aspects of improved care included frequent use of pulse oximeter, preference of inhaled over systemic bronchodilators and increased use of systemic steroids. Significant deficiencies were identified in hospital-based management of acute asthma. Most aspects of asthma care continued to fall short of asthma guidelines. [source]


The AIDS Epidemic and Migrants in South Asia and South-East Asia

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 5 2004
Daniel Simonet
Migrant vulnerability to AIDS is an important public health care issue. After having listed some characteristics of the epidemic in Asia and their link with migration, the article describes some of the disease's consequences on economic sectors that employ migrants and lists preventive measures (regulatory, sectoral, microeconomic) that have been taken to counter the spread. [source]


Issues and Challenges of Emigration Dynamics in Developing Countries

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 4 2001
A.A. Afolayan
This article is a theory-based attempt to present the issues and challenges of emigration dynamics in developing countries. The topic is discussed within several basic assumptions: first, that emigration dynamics in developing countries have certain features that are different from those in developed countries; second, that countries in the regions covered by the study (sub-Saharan Africa, Central America and the Caribbean, and South Asia) are representative of developing countries. The article has been considerably facilitated by two recently concluded and reported projects: the IOM/UNFPA project, "Emigration dynamics in developing countries: sub-Saharan Africa, Central America and the Caribbean, and South Asia"(Appleyard, 1998, 1999), and the UAP/CEIFO project on "International migration in and from Africa: dimensions, challenges and prospects"(Adepoju and Hammar, 1996). Any serious academic study of emigration dynamics in developing countries must acknowledge these landmark scholarly studies if they hope to advance understanding of the essential features of emigration dynamics in developing countries. A prime objective of the present article is to focus attention on aspects of the emigration process that will enable policy makers to utilize emigration for development, especially through national and international cooperation at regional and global levels. The article is predicated upon the need for a theory or model of emigration dynamics in developing countries that meets both internal and external dimensions. The adequacy of such a theory can be measured at three different levels: observation, description and explanation (Chomsky, 1965). [source]


Benchmarking productive efficiency of selected wheat areas in Pakistan and India using data envelopment analysis,

IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE, Issue 4 2006
Naeem M. Malana
MEG (/DEA); analyse comparative; productivité de l'irrigation; productivité; blé; Pakistan; Inde Abstract Food demand is bound to increase significantly in future as a result of a growing world population. As a large proportion of the available land and water resources have been developed, there is limited scope for further increase in the use of these resources. Thus future increases in food production will originate from improvements in performance of existing agriculture rather than development of new resources. It is anticipated that wheat demand in the South Asia will rise significantly in future. In order to increase production and overcome diminishing water availability for irrigation, performance of wheat farms must increase. This paper describes the process of benchmarking the productive efficiency of wheat in selected areas of Pakistan and India. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to evaluate and rank productivity performance of wheat growing areas in both countries based on three inputs: irrigation (m3,ha,1), seed (kg,ha,1) and fertiliser use (kg,ha,1). The results of analysis show that DEA is an effective tool for analysing and benchmarking productive efficiency of agricultural units. Ranking of productive efficiency based on three inputs is also shown to differ significantly from that based on a single resource (irrigation). Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. La demande de nourriture est appelée à augmenter de façon significative du fait de la croissance de la population mondiale. Une forte proportion des ressources en terre et en eau ayant déjà été utilisée, leur potentiel d'accroissement est faible. La production supplémentaire de nourriture devra donc venir de l'amélioration des performances de l'agriculture plutôt que du développement de nouvelles ressources. Il est prévu que la demande de blé en Asie du Sud-Est augmente significativement dans le future. Afin d'augmenter la production et de surmonter la raréfaction de l'eau pour l'irrigation, la performance de la culture du blé doit progresser. Cet article décrit le processus d'analyse comparative appliquée à la productivité de certaines zones à blé du Pakistan et de l'Inde. La Méthode d'Enveloppe Graphique (MEG) est utilisée pour évaluer et classer les productivités des zones à blé de ces deux pays sur la base de trois intrants: l'irrigation (m3/ha), les semences (kg/ha) et les engrais (kg/ha). Les résultats de l'analyse montrent que la MEG est un outil efficace pour l'analyse comparative des productivités d'exploitations agricoles. Le classement des productivités à partir de trois intrants est également différent de celui obtenu à partir d'une seule ressource (l'irrigation). Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Thematic Section: Geological anatomy of East and South Asia: Paleogeography and paleoenvironment in Eastern Tethys (IGCP 516) Part 2

ISLAND ARC, Issue 1 2009
Ken-Ichiro Hisada
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


Thematic Section: Geological anatomy of East and South Asia: Paleogeography and paleoenvironments in Eastern Tethys (IGCP 516) Part 1

ISLAND ARC, Issue 4 2008
Ken-Ichiro Hisada
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


Nature and the economy,

JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY, Issue 3 2007
PARTHA DASGUPTA
Summary 1In this lecture I first offer what one could call the World Bank view of the recent macroeconomic history of a number of countries in the poor and rich worlds. Secondly, I demonstrate how our view of macroeconomic history changes if Nature is included as a capital asset in production activities. 2I conclude that high population growth in the world's poorest regions (South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa) has been an obstacle to the achievement of sustainable economic development in those areas. It is believed that people in those regions are, on average, less wealthy now than they were 35 years ago. 3When population growth is taken into account, the accumulation of manufactured capital, knowledge and human capital (health and education) has not compensated for the degradation of natural capital in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa and, in all probability, even in the United Kingdom and the United States. 4It is possible that China is an exception to the economic forces experienced in other areas of the world. 5Synthesis and applications. The conclusions drawn here are very tentative and there is much further work to be conducted in understanding how ecological concerns can be incorporated into economic theory. It is important, therefore, that growth economists, demographers, governments and international agencies take this approach. [source]


Undernutrition among children in South and South-East Asia

JOURNAL OF PAEDIATRICS AND CHILD HEALTH, Issue 9 2010
Sant-Rayn Pasricha
Abstract Undernutrition remains a major public health problem among children living in Asia. Although the burden is maximal among poorer, rural and Indigenous communities, the problem affects the majority in many Asian countries, especially in South Asia. In order to prevent the pervasive consequences of undernutrition, strategies that address this burden are required. Successful implementation of strategies may be limited by the complex aetiology of undernutrition, including the political setting. Rising food insecurity because of climate change, land use for biofuel production and the recent global financial crisis threaten to exacerbate childhood malnutrition. In this review, we describe the burden of undernutrition among Asian children and discuss contributing factors and potential solutions. [source]


Progress in Wheat Resistance to Spot Blotch in Bangladesh

JOURNAL OF PHYTOPATHOLOGY, Issue 1 2006
A. B. Siddique
Abstract Spot blotch, caused by Cochliobolus sativus, is considered one of the most destructive diseases of wheat (Triticum aestivum) in the warm areas of South Asia. Over the past 20 years, wheat breeding efforts in the region have improved spot blotch resistance in susceptible commercial cultivars. This study assessed resistance and spot blotch-induced yield losses in newly released wheat cultivars developed in Bangladesh since the release of the landmark wheat variety ,Kanchan'. Replicated field studies were conducted during the 2003 and 2004 wheat seasons at two sites: a farmer's field and a research station in a warm region of Bangladesh where spot blotch has been a serious problem. Spot blotch affected 60% of the crop and caused yield losses of from 2% to 22%. Disease severity and disease-induced grain yield reductions were less in wheat genotypes developed since 1983, with a corresponding trend towards higher yield in newly developed varieties. The level of resistance to spot blotch in the new cultivars and advanced breeding lines represents considerable progress in breeding for resistance over the past two decades. [source]


16S rDNA Sequence Analysis of Bacterial Isolates from Die-back Affected Sissoo Trees (Dalbergia sissoo Roxb.) in Bangladesh

JOURNAL OF PHYTOPATHOLOGY, Issue 9 2005
H. Tantau
Abstract A new form of disease called ,die-back' has been established in Dalbergia sissoo trees. This disease has reached epidemic proportions in Bangladesh as well as in other countries of South Asia and is characterized by browning of the leaves, signs of wilting, and trunk lesions with gum flow. The trees die within a few months. In order to investigate the causes of this die-back disease, samples were taken for a first trial in the Rajshahi division at two sites around Sherpur. For the isolation of bacteria, surface-sterilized plant material (leaves, twigs and trunk bark) from diseased trees was transferred to LB medium and incubated. After isolation of single colonies, various bacteria species could be identified by polymerase chain reaction analysis with two primers specific for highly conserved sequence regions in the bacterial 16S rDNA and by sequencing. First indications for the presence of bacteria with phytopathogenic potential were found. [source]


Effect of fermentation metabolites on rheological and sensory properties of fermented rice noodles

JOURNAL OF THE SCIENCE OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE, Issue 12 2008
Zhan-Hui Lu
Abstract BACKGROUND: Considering the effect of natural fermentation on the textural improvement of fermented rice noodles in China and South Asia, and given the lack of reports concerning the roles of fermentation metabolites (enzymes, organic acids, glucose and maltose), this study aims to determine fermentation metabolites produced during fermentation of raw milled rice grains, and investigate their effects on rheological and sensory properties of rice noodles. RESULTS: ,-Amylase activity was correlated with reducing sugar content significantly in the supernatant during fermentation process (r = 0.76, P < 0.05). Lactic acid was the dominant organic acid produced by fermentation. Protein and lipid content decreased significantly by fermentation. Treating the rice grains with trypsin, lipase or lactic acid could modify the rheological characteristics and improve the sensory properties of rice noodles. Removal of protein and lipid by physical extraction confirmed the results. The residue of glucose and maltose in rice flour weakened the noodle texture. CONCLUSIONS: Fermentation of raw milled rice decreased protein and lipid content, increased the purity of rice starch, and thus improved the texture of fermented rice noodles. The low molecule weight sugars produced during fermentation should be removed for their negative effect on texture. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry [source]


The Trollopian Geopolitical Aesthetic

LITERATURE COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 9 2010
Lauren M. E. Goodlad
Trollope's reputation as a formally dull post-1848 realist persists even though the period of his Palliser series (1864,1879) was characterized by intense political and imperial dynamism. While most of Trollope's novels during this period exemplify a historically engaged realism, The Eustace Diamonds is distinct for its rare meditation on empire in South Asia,a topic that Trollope seems purposely to have avoided. Trollope's fourth Palliser novel captures the vexed ethics of a so-called liberal imperialism through two classic characters,Lucy Morris and Lord Fawn,and their interactions with the Sawab of Mygawb, a "non-character"who marks the novel's geopolitical unconscious. But the novel's most formally distinct features revolve around representation of Lizzie Eustace, who figures Trollope's uneasiness over the New Imperial era's neo-feudal aesthetics. Trollope associated the New Imperialism with Benjamin Disraeli whose Jewish ethnicity he tied to a "conjuring" political agency that could master the theaters of mass democracy and imperial expansion. In The Eustace Diamonds, Lizzie becomes the embodiment of an actively performed New Imperial aesthetic. As a Disraeli-like schemer, she introduces a stylistic referentiality that is alien to Trollope's ,pellucid' linguistic ideal. Where Trollope's sociological and global capitalist novels offer nuanced aesthetic capture, Lizzie marks the representational limits of such realism. Like the Sawab, she is the sign of a Trollopian power to stretch form beyond the crude anti-realism of the racialized scapegoat. [source]


Phylogeography and conservation genetics of Eld's deer (Cervus eldi)

MOLECULAR ECOLOGY, Issue 1 2003
Christopher N. Balakrishnan
Abstract Eld's deer (Cervus eldi) is a highly endangered cervid, distributed historically throughout much of South Asia and Indochina. We analysed variation in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region for representatives of all three Eld's deer subspecies to gain a better understanding of the genetic population structure and evolutionary history of this species. A phylogeny of mtDNA haplotypes indicates that the critically endangered and ecologically divergent C. eldi eldi is related more closely to C. e. thamin than to C. e. siamensis, a result that is consistent with biogeographic considerations. The results also suggest a strong degree of phylogeographic structure both between subspecies and among populations within subspecies, suggesting that dispersal of individuals between populations has been very limited historically. Haplotype diversity was relatively high for two of the three subspecies (thamin and siamensis), indicating that recent population declines have not yet substantially eroded genetic diversity. In contrast, we found no haplotype variation within C. eldi eldi or the Hainan Island population of C. eldi siamensis, two populations which are known to have suffered severe population bottlenecks. We also compared levels of haplotype and nucleotide diversity in an unmanaged captive population, a managed captive population and a relatively healthy wild population. Diversity indices were higher in the latter two, suggesting the efficacy of well-designed breeding programmes for maintaining genetic diversity in captivity. Based on significant genetic differentiation among Eld's deer subspecies, we recommend the continued management of this species in three distinct evolutionarily significant units (ESUs). Where possible, it may be advisable to translocate individuals between isolated populations within a subspecies to maintain levels of genetic variation in remaining Eld's deer populations. [source]


Anthropology, Politics, and the State: Democracy and Violence in South Asia by Jonathan Spencer

AMERICAN ETHNOLOGIST, Issue 2 2010
SUSAN DEWEY
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


Savage bodies, civilized pleasures: M. V. Portman and the Andamanese

AMERICAN ETHNOLOGIST, Issue 2 2009
SATADRU SEN
ABSTRACT In this article, I examine the deployment of ethnographic and photographic techniques in British colonialism in the Andaman Islands. Focusing on the work of Maurice Portman, who was "officer in charge of the Andamanese" between 1879 and 1900, I examine the mechanisms by which savagery was constructed in a marginal and newly pacified colony where the indigenous population was assumed by Britons to be dying but not quite dead. I argue that in this ideological and political setting, the colonizer's assertions of control and delinquent fantasies of losing control came together in the aesthetics and measurements of the eroticized aboriginal body. [Andaman Islands, South Asia, M. V. Portman, photography, anthropometry, colonialism, savagery] [source]


The Long Partition and the Making of Modern South Asia: Refugees, Boundaries, Histories by Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali Zamindar

AMERICAN ETHNOLOGIST, Issue 2 2009
OSKAR VERKAAIK
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


"Dear Dr. Kothari ,": Sexuality, violence against women, and the parallel public sphere in India

AMERICAN ETHNOLOGIST, Issue 1 2009
SUSAN DEWEY
ABSTRACT In India, cultural prohibitions on discussions about sexuality and violence against women have resulted in a parallel public sphere in which individuals make use of popular culture to resolve private dilemmas. In this article, I examine how female discourse regarding two highly publicized cases of violence against women in Mumbai employed the parallel public sphere, a cultural phenomenon that allows individual normalcy to be gauged as part of a broader process by which the silenced learn to use their voices only at certain times and in certain ways. [South Asia, sexuality, Mumbai, popular culture, Habermas, violence against women] [source]


At the Margins of Death: Ritual Space and the Politics of Location in an Indo-Himalayan Border Village

AMERICAN ETHNOLOGIST, Issue 3 2001
Ravina Aggarwal
I base this article on an event that transpired during a funeral ceremony in the village of Achinathang in Ladakh, India. This incident, which coincided with a period of interreligious conflicts between Muslim and Buddhist communities, led me to question the manner in which margins become sites for the definition and contestation of citizenship and power. Here, I analyze the construction of margins in multiple contexts: in negotiating boundaries between death and rebirth, in coping with and challenging the control exerted by town-based political reform movements over rural space, and finally, in locating the position of the ethnographer in histories and spaces of domination. [death rituals, social space, politics of location, Buddhism, South Asia] [source]


New-immigrant women in urban Canada: insights into occupation and sociocultural context

OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY INTERNATIONAL, Issue 4 2007
Vanessa Martins
Abstract Recent statistics have shown that women from South Asia comprise one of the largest sub-groups of immigrants to enter Canada. The majority of this population has settled in the city of Toronto. As immigrants adapt to new physical, social, political, and economic environments in a new country, they are also subject to changes in occupational roles and expectations. Little research has been conducted with new immigrant women from South Asia from an occupational adjustment perspective in Canada. This qualitative study sought to understand the adjustment experiences of immigrant women from South Asia regarding the influence of a Canadian urban environment on their occupations. Twelve recently immigrated women from South Asia to Canada were interviewed about their experiences of living in the city of Toronto with respect to their adjustment to a new environment and engagement in new daily occupations. Using a modified grounded theory approach to analysis, results from the study revealed many challenges these women face and the major factors that aid in the adjustment process. A framework for understanding occupational adjustment in new immigrants is discussed with implications for occupational therapy theory and practice. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


China's "Soft" Naval Power in the Indian Ocean

PACIFIC FOCUS, Issue 1 2010
Toshi Yoshihara
For the past several years, Beijing has been attempting to "shape" the diplomatic and strategic environment in maritime Asia, projecting an image of itself as an innately trustworthy great power. As a part of this public relations campaign, Chinese leaders have retailed the story of Zheng He, the Ming Dynasty eunuch admiral who voyaged to destinations throughout the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean six centuries ago. They have touted the feats of Zheng He, who sojourned in maritime Asia without attempting military conquest, as a metaphor for China's current peaceful ascent in the maritime domain. In doing so, Beijing hopes to convince key audiences in Southeast Asia and South Asia that it remains pacific in outlook , and thus can be counted on not to abuse the sea power it is amassing. An attractive vision of China, they hope, will avert the tendency of regional states to band together to balance Chinese power. Until now, Chinese diplomats have had the luxury of telling their story how they wanted to, as deployments of China's naval forces beyond East Asia remained abstract. Beijing neither saw the need nor boasted the capacity to maintain strong forces far from Chinese shores. However, the headline-grabbing dispatch of two destroyers and a combat logistics ship to the Gulf of Aden on counter-piracy duty in late 2008 has put China squarely in the spotlight. By depicting itself as an inherently defensive power, China has set a high standard for its behavior at sea. Fellow Asian powers will hold Beijing to this lofty benchmark , measuring its actions against the storyline Chinese leaders have developed around Zheng He's voyages. Beijing's anti-piracy mission thus offers an ideal opportunity to empirically test the efficacy of Chinese soft power at sea. To this end, this paper explores the motives behind the Zheng He narrative and assesses the key messages that Chinese leaders are attempting to convey to Asian capitals. This study then examines the extent to which China's unprecedented naval presence in the Indian Ocean has dovetailed with the Zheng He storyline and with the larger strategy of easing regional misgivings about Chinese maritime power. Finally, the paper analyzes how India, a target audience, is responding to China's narrative, drawing several preliminary conclusions about the effectiveness and the prospects of Chinese soft power in the Indian Ocean. [source]