Sensuous stories in the Indian Ocean islands*

Abstract

Providing examples from the islands of the Indian Ocean Region, this article focuses on the multisensory nature of storytelling and listening. Drawing on anthropological fieldwork in the region (1998–2016), the author proposes a sensuous epistemology that turns on listening to “sense”. She reveals that storytelling can be a profoundly sensuous experience that elicits emotional and physical responses in both the teller and listener. The sensuous quality of stories enable the listener to fully encounter politically inscribed, complex social experiences. Ultimately, the article advances a notion of listening as sense-work, thereby deepening sensory scholarship’s recent, politically reflexive analysis on listening to hear.     

梦觉皆幻--《庄子》内篇世界观与印度古代幻现论之比较研究

《庄子》内篇中的“物化”、“化声”的“化”应是“幻化”、“幻现”之意,而不是通常理解的“形变”、“变化”;“罔两与景”寓言并不是要告诉我们蛇与蚹、蜩与翼的相依相托、不可分离,而是寓意:“罔两”、(影之晕)、它之“所待”-“景”(影)以及影的所待-“形”都不过像“飞行转蜕”的蛇、蜩类一样,是“从无而忽有”,是人们主观幻现的产物;“有始也者,有未始有始也者……”是对“道”的时空超越性的表述,而不能像《淮南子》那样作生成论式的理解。通过与以奥义书为代表的印度古代主流世界观的比较研究表明,《庄子》内篇的世界观是一种典型的境界论。梦和觉在本质上具同等地位。存在的本真是超越时空、超越名相的无差别的大全。现象世界源自人类理智的虚构,它会因人的境界不同而有不同的呈现。     

尼赫鲁时期(1947-1965)印美关系中的经济因素

尼赫鲁时期,印美经贸关系主要体现为印度“一相情愿”对美国经济援助的单相思;而贫困的印度却无法在经济贸易、投资上吊起美国的胃口。对美国而言,它也乐于利用经济这张王牌,时时处处对印度威逼利诱,企图把印度拉上美国的全球战略之中。通过对印美两个具体国家的案例分析,将有助于理解一国经济的增长对民族国家间政治关系的改善起到了什么样的作用;或者说经济因素对国际政治结构的影响何在;运用经济手段能否达到民族国家间既独立又彼此协调的境界。     

《爱药》的女性主义解读

当代著名印第安女作家路易斯·厄德里克的小说《爱药》对男性人物和女性人物作了二元对立的刻画。男性多无视印第安文化传统,性格暴戾,结果全都成了生活的失败者;而女性人物对待生活的态度更为积极,对印第安传统也更为敬畏。从小说中的四位男性和三位女性人物身上,反映出作者的女性主义创作倾向。     

Public sector delivery of waste management services: cases from the Indian Sub-Continent

This paper discusses the role of public sector institutions in the delivery of urban services, with a particular focus on waste management in the Indian Sub-Continent. Public sector institutions are the major stakeholders in the delivery of urban sevices. They hold the major responsibilities, funds and employ a large number of staff. The public sector institutions are also exposed to political influence and the institutional changes are often politically or donors driven. However, since new institutions such as non-government organisations and private sector are taking important roles in the actual delivery of services, there is a greater need to understand the existing linkages to promote integration. The informal sector also provides services to a large number of population. In order to promote efficient and effective delivery of urban services, it is important to work on the integrated approaches involving key stakeholders.     

Reaching at-risk populations: The inconsistency of communication channels among American Indian tribes and nations in Oklahoma

While according to Census figures American Indians are considered a single minority group, not all tribes within the racial classification of American Indian have the same access to information and resources. This study exposes the inconsistent availability of communication channels among American Indian tribes and nations and the use of available channels for disseminating diabetes awareness, prevention, and treatment messages. Findings imply that health communication campaigns targeting at-risk groups should first identify and assess the ethnic communication channels available to the population, and inclusion of these channels should be essential in the health communication campaign; however, practitioners cannot assume equality of access and availability of these channels within a minority population.     

The Role of the Government in Addressing Social Issues in India: The Perceptions of Indian Undergraduate and Graduate Social Work Students

Using a convenience sample of 318 undergraduate and graduate social work students (193 women and 125 men) from a public university in India, this study examined the differences between Indian social work students' perceptions toward the role of government in addressing social issues in India. Using Predictive Analytics Software (PASW) 18, several statistical procedures were conducted to analyze the relationship between social work students' demographic variables and their perceptions of the government's role in addressing social issues in India. The results indicated that older social work students were more likely to perceive that the government should ensure equal opportunities for citizens. Female social work students were more likely to perceive that the government should ensure housing for citizens. BSW students were more likely to perceive that the government should ensure employment of citizens. Macro social work students were more likely to perceive that the government should ensure equal opportunities, housing, food, employment, and health insurance for citizens. The findings of this study may help social work educational administrators and faculty in India to develop a curriculum that provides social work students with the opportunity to critically examine the complex relationship between age, gender, marital status, number of children, socioeconomic status, educational status, area of concentration, and the role of the government in addressing social issues. Doing so will prepare social work students and professionals to think and engage in a manner that will allow them to challenge and advocate for a change to the status quo.     

Counseling Strategies with Gay and Lesbian Youth

Counseling needs of gay and lesbian youth have not been adequately researched. Identification of these issues has only been underway for adequately researched. Identification of these issues has only been underway for approximately ten years, as service providers and researchers turned their attention to this population. Factors, which contribute to a presenting clinical picture, include stigmatization, hiding and isolation, a sense of being different, lack of family support, harassment, and violence. Each of these areas is discussed, integrating case vignettes and research findings.     

Sanyog: A Speech Enabled Communication System for the Speech Impaired and People with Multiple Disorders

SUMMARY

The paper presents a multilingual communication tool that has been designed for helping in the communication needs of people with severe speech and multiple disorders. The system accepts icons, selected through special access switches, as input and can form natural language sentences, which can be spoken out using in-built text-to-speech synthesizer. The system has been deployed and is being field tested at the schools for the children with cerebral palsy in India.     

Contextual identity experiencing facilitates resilience in Native American academics

This article discusses the socio-cultural dynamics that interact with ethno-racial identity experiencing in a previously under-researched group. A qualitative interdisciplinary study with 40 Native American academics from 28 mainstream universities across the U.S. served as a case example with findings that contrasted with historically influential theoretical frameworks postulating identity confusion and conflicts at the intersection of one’s mainstream education and profession versus one’s ethno-racial community grounding. Instead of feeling pressure to identify with only one worldview, the contextual, dynamic identities associated with the inclusive and flexible self-concept of tribal participants allowed them to in turn take advantage of two divergent cultural meaning systems pertaining to their distinct socio-cultural contexts. These shifts were experienced as not endogenous but rather exogenous variables, which did not cause the historically theorized issues. Participants felt their tribal identities instead facilitated meaningful integration of the existing incongruences, which resulted in unexpectedly resilient subjective experiencing.