State-initiated development and the Reang ethnic minority in Tripura (North East India)

This paper explores the wider implications of state-led development on the Reang ethnic minority in the North East Indian state of Tripura, and in doing so presents a critical view on such development endeavours. Basing itself on the study of the relationship between the state and the ethnic minorities, this research argues the following: – first, most state-led development programmes are formulated on a preconceived notion of ‘backwardness’ in the ethnic minorities. Second, state-led development projects create internal fissures and ruptures within ethnic minorities on issues of what constitutes development. Third, often, state-led development programmes create an image of oneself as inherently ‘backward’, whereby the conditioning of the mind plays an important role in extending the desire of the members of an ethnic minority to achieve this ‘imagined modernity’.     

Framing the tribal: ethnic violence in Northeast India

This article examines the framing of ‘ethnic conflict’ in Northeast India, focusing on militant groups and insurgency in the hill areas of Assam and a form of political violence known locally as ‘ethnic clashes’. The article argues that ‘ethnic clashes’ have become an institutionalized form of armed violence in the region, while ‘ethnic rivalry’ is a key diagnostic frame for conflict. As enactments and imaginaries of institutionalized violence, ‘ethnic clashes’ are a product of actors who hold stakes in representing armed political violence as a result of ‘ethnic conflict’ between rivaling tribal communities. The article looks at the representation of causes of conflict as well as the framing of acts of violence as key sites of contestation, and thus as integral aspects of the conflict. This raises questions about the feasibility of scholarly efforts to make sense of specific cases of conflict via generic categories such as the ‘ethnic conflict’.     

Media in conflict or conflict in media: examining media coverage of conflict in Northeast India

The paper looks at how media engages with the issue of framing movements in the northeastern state of Manipur. The focus of the paper is on the demand for Inner Line Permit in Manipur that landed the state into conflict between the communities of the state. The passing of the three bills, as discussed in the paper, by the state government has snowballed into ethnic tensions and re-opened the hill–valley divide in this northeastern state. By using frame analysis, the paper intends to explicate the issue of media framing within the socio-political context of the state. The paper then engages with the process in which local media frames movements that are diametrically opposed to one another. The study further reveals that the local media in Manipur are greatly influenced by the local politics and remain integral to it.     

The enclosures of colonization: Indigeneity,development, and the case of Mapithel dam in Northeast India

This paper examines the Mapithel dam in Northeastern state of Manipur in India as a site of contestation between the state-led development agenda and the affected tribal people. Based on discursive field experiences, the paper reflects upon the competing values in relation to land use and ownership systems and raises a question – as to whether in the name of development, is the government eroding tribal people’s right over their land and resources? The Mapithel dam issue not only invites serious deliberations beyond dam construction and its social and ecological ramifications but also contemplates on the various dynamics in and through cultural identity, politics, and natural resources. The paper addresses some key aspects of the very political closure approach which emphasizes state’s hegemony through forceful intrusion into the life, livelihood, and ‘lebenswelt’ of tribal people and infringement of their traditional rights.     

Repositioning culture for development: women and development in a Nigerian rural community

Most studies on women have ignored women's view of themselves in relation to their roles in community development. This study uses interview and ethnographic data from Nigeria to investigate women's narratives of themselves concerning their position in a rural cultural space in relation to community development. It explores ways of repositioning patriarchal or gender unresponsive cultures for eliciting women's potentials in community development. It emphasises how women's cultural constrains in a patriarchal community have led to a rare survival strategy – that is, the evolution of an invisible matriarchy. As a recommendation, it presents a framework for culture repositioning and a map of actors' responsibilities for its achievement. It contributes to ongoing debates on women in rural community development. It raises conceptual questions about customary practices that affect women's values in communities in Nigeria's rural areas. Finally, it presents three main lessons that can be drawn by women (and men) in traditional communities in non-Western societies.     

First Nations and community economic development: a case study

A training project in a northern Canadian community providedan opportunity to examine participatory planning approachesand the meaning of work in First Nations communities. Focusgroups conducted three years after the unsuccessful interventionof a community economic development (CED) project suggest thatcomplex factors such as lack of support from community leadersand rate of pay for workers determine whether CED is alwaysappropriate in northern, First Nations contexts.     

Sharing and exchanging: understanding common grounds in northeast India

ABSTRACT

Northeast India, a ‘zipper region’ that gives impetus to Southeast Asian and Himalasian studies, is marked by complexities and ambiguities. The paper examines the multiple identity construction in contemporary Assam, the central state of this region and seeks to recover the other experiences that make ethnic life-world possible while challenging the ethnocentric discourses—in academia, politics, public and social movements. Acknowledging the presence of common or possibly universal processes behind the production of such discourses, it aims to interrogate the factors that cut across socio-cultural, political-economical or ecological dimensions. It further examines the multiple discourses and narratives that makes that social possible in the region. In doing so, it locates the strategic positioning of such discourses and how they deal with Indian nation-state and beyond. This paper in essence is interested in the question of possibility of various discourses—as a question of post-history.     

The Reach and Limits of Asian Panethnic Identity: The Dynamics of Gender,Race, and Class in a Community-Based Organization

Qualitative Sociology - What are the processes that foster or inhibit the development of panethnic alliances? Through ethnographic study of an Asian pan-ethnic community agency I examine the ways...     

A Development Delivery Institution for the Tribal Communities: Experience of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in India

This article examines the varied impacts of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) as a development delivery institution for the tribal communities vis‐à‐vis other social groups across the Indian States, using the framework of new institutional economics. A number of State‐specific, socio‐economic institutional factors seem to be responsible for these variations. The article therefore suggests institutional reforms and convergence of the development initiatives of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs with the NREGS in order to realise the optimal potential of the scheme, and, in particular, to ensure greater livelihood opportunities for these marginalised groups and their entitlement to productive resources with greater socio‐economic and political empowerment.     

New media and cultural disconnect: A study on the lodha tribal community of India

A qualitative study was undertaken among Lodha tribals in the Mayurbhanj district of Odisha to examine how digital media accessibility has affected the social and cultural life of the youths of this tribal community. It also assessed any interrelationship between new media existence and cultural exclusion among the youths. Face-to-face interviews, focus group discussions, and observation methods were applied for accessing and generating information. Five villages with more than 70 percent Lodha population were selected for the study. A stratified random sampling method was used to determine the sample. The results directly link new media consumption and cultural disconnect among the Lodha youths. The young tribals were moving away from their traditional cultural systems into a more urbanized existence that is far removed from the life known to their previous generations.     

Severity and determinants of stunting in children under age 2 years in Odisha (India): a tribal v/s non-tribal analysis

Prevalence of stunting among India’s tribal under-five children has witnessed a 3% annual decline in the last 8 years. Cross-sectional data of 1000 children (287 tribal and 713 non-tribal) aged 0–23 months from Odisha’s Rapid Survey of Children (RSOC, 2014) was analysed to identify the predictors of stunting and severe stunting among tribal children and to suggest policy and programme implications. Results show significant determinants of childhood stunting to be birth order, maternal illiteracy and determinants for severe stunting were maternal age <18 years at marriage and <20 years at birth, and <3 antenatal clinic visits. Severe stunting in tribal children was predicted by basic causes: poverty and maternal age <20 years at first birth and age <18 years at marriage. Findings strongly suggest to accelerate efforts towards reducing childhood stunting in Odisha more specifically among tribal children for whom a special strategy is urgently warranted.     

Foster care in India: An exploratory survey of the community perceptions and prospects for implementation of foster care in a developing nation: A study in Udaipur,Rajasthan, India

This study was conducted in order to assess the prospects for implementing foster care as an alternative to the dominant system of institutional care available to orphaned and abandoned children in India. 653 families in urban Udaipur participated in a mixed-methods based assessment of receptivity to foster and adoptive care. The majority of those who responded reported receptivity to the idea of foster care as an alternative to institutional care. However, analyses demonstrated that respondents also perceived barriers to implementing systematic foster care, particularly with regard to family recruitment due to problems securing family and community support for participation. The results are discussed in light of governmental calls for non-governmental organization and other stakeholders to institute alternatives to foster and adoptive care. The results of this study have applied significance for organizations and practitioners seeking to implement care alternatives for orphan and abandoned children in India.     

Mobile Selves: Gender, ethnicity and mobile phones in the everyday lives of young Pakistani-British women and men

This paper focuses on mobile phone use by a young minority ethnic group as a medium through which to explore diversity and technology use in everyday life. Recent research with young people has shown that mobile phones are instrumentally, socially and emotionally important but few have problematized the homogeneous concept of 'youth'. This paper argues for increased recognition of the intersections of social categories such as youth, gender and ethnicity with technologies, specifically mobile phones, in order to understand complexity of use. Drawing on new empirical, qualitative data from an urban area in the North East of England we explore the focus group narratives of young Pakistani-British Muslim women and men focusing on the notion of 'shifting' gendered and cultural identities and social practices, developed and reworked in relation to the use of mobile phones. We look at the gendered dynamics of mobile use, including gender talk and text, and ask whether the young women and men experience mobiles differently in everyday life. We also explore the ways in which mobiles are used to create 'space of one's own' and the gendered dynamics of remaining connected, especially to key peer groups. The paper concludes with the assertion that in order to fully explore the mutability of youth cultures across space and time, we need to develop a more dynamic concept of 'mobile selves' by exploring the place and meaning of technologies such as mobile phones in the rich tapestries of young people's lives.     

A Changing Game: Ethnicity,Gender, and Nation in the US American Soccer Film

Both sport and film play a key role in contemporary US American popular culture. They are widely regarded as legitimate carriers and formative instances of social identities such as ethnicity, gender, or nationality, and they have capitalized upon one another with increasing success. Soccer and soccer films provide a case in point, as both the sport and its treatment in US American feature films are currently undergoing a change from a rather marginal position to a somewhat secure place within the cultural mainstream. This essay analyses five recent American soccer films with a particular focus on how they frame soccer as an ethnic, gendered, and ‘national’ game in a US context.     

Gender,social change,and the professions: The case of pharmacy

This paper examines the nature of increasing female entry into the profession of pharmacy. Using data from a survey of Ontario pharmacists, it compares the work experiences and career paths of 668 men and women in the profession. In terms of hours worked, where they work, and the nature of the work that they do, we found considerable differences between males and females that are becoming increasingly pronounced as more women enter the profession. These findings are then discussed in terms of available theories of gender, professions and social change.     

Interrogating the tribal: the aporia of ‘tribalism’ in the sociological study of the Middle East

In this paper, we intend to deconstruct the term ‘tribalism’ as a colonial category, which figures as a prominent concept in social studies on Kurds as well as the Middle East at large. Blithely used, tribalism has occupied a central place, especially in the existing scholarship on Kurdistan. Some earlier anthropological works have gone so far as to regard tribalism as the ‘DNA’ of Middle Eastern people. Drawing on recent studies on Latin America, Africa and Central Asia, we argue that the use of tribalism as if it is the natural constitution of Kurdish society has caused a significant misrepresentation and oversimplification of socio‐political life in Kurdistan as well as the broader Middle East. In a way, the existing body of scholarship on this region has reproduced statist‐nationalist discourses at the expense of dominated communities (e.g., Kurds). The historical context of both colonial powers and nation‐states ‘combating tribes and tribalism’ coincided with the emergence of the discourse of racial biopolitics. Thus, the use of the term tribalism to define certain nations or ethnic groups should not be viewed as merely an application of socio‐anthropological categories. Hence, we argue that the ethical aspects and implications of the use of tribalism by both colonial powers and later by nation‐states to define certain ethnic groups must not be overlooked.     

Transnational ties and ethnic identities in the parental homeland: second-generation Indian Americans in India

ABSTRACT

This article explores the ‘return’ migration of high-skilled, second-generation Indian-Americans from the United States to India. Based on interviews with fifty-six respondents, it asks: What transnational ties do second-generation Indian Americans maintain with India prior to return? Upon return, what are their ‘reverse’ transnational linkages to the United States? How do these linkages shape their ethnic identities, if at all? Findings suggest that respondents’ transnational ties to India prior to return reinforce their identities as Indian Americans. Once in India, they maintain affective and civic ties to the United States, the country where they were born or raised. Further, American-inflected social ideas and norms shape returnees’ interactions with domestic workers in India. As they grapple with the disparities between Western and Indian norms on the treatment of domestic help, respondents privilege ‘American’ identities. These findings highlight the transnational ties and identity construction and negotiation of second-generation returnees.     

Gender,poverty, and inequality: a brief history of feminist contributions in the field of international development

This paper provides a brief history of feminist contributions to the analysis of gender, poverty, and inequality in the field of international development. It draws out the continuous threads running through these contributions over the years, as the focus has moved from micro-level analysis to a concern with macro-level forces. It concludes with a brief note on some of the confusions and conflations that continue to bedevil attempts to explore the relationship between gender, poverty, and inequality.