Showing papers on "Sustenance published in 2007"

Women and Economics: A Study of the Economic Relation Between Men and Women as a Factor in Social Evolution

Abstract: The author of this text, Charlotte Perkins Gilman is regarded by many as one of the leading intellectuals in the women's movement in the US from 1900 to 1920. Yet by the mid-1960s she was nearly forgotten, and "Women and Economics" was long out of print. Revived here with a new introduction, the text anticipates many of the issues and thinkers of 1960s. Gilman's ideas represent an integration of socialist thought and Darwinian theory and provide a disruption of the nearly all-male canon of American economic and social thought. She stresses the connection between work and home and between public and private life; calls for extensive childcare facilities, parental leave policies and wages for housework; and argues for new housing arrangements with communal kitchens and hired cooks. She contends that women's entry into the public arena and the reforms of the family would be a win-win situation for both women and men as the public sphere would no longer be deprived of women's particular abilities, and men would be able to enlarge the possibilities to experience and express the emotional sustenance of family life.

Studying Chinese Politics: Farewell to Revolution?

Abstract: A brief discussion on the sustenance of high economic growth rate, the sustenance of communism inspite of its movement towards greater privatisation and market freedom is presented. Advanced economic development will demand new political arrangements with greater autonomy to legal institutions and civil society, without which the Peoples Republic of China could devolve into an authoritarianism that dispenses with both the ideological and the organisational features of its revolutionary past.

Do No Harm: Aid, Weak Institutions, and the Missing Middle in Africa

Abstract: The implicit assumption of the donor community is that Africa is trapped by its poverty, and that aid is necessary if it is to escape This article suggests an alternative view: that Africa is caught in an institutional trap, signalled and reinforced by the small share of income of its independent middle strata Theory and historical experience elsewhere suggest that a robust middle-income group contributes critically to the creation and sustenance of healthy institutions, particularly of the state The article argues that if external aid is to be helpful for institution-building in Africa's weak and fragile states, donors need to emphasise not providing more aid but minimising the risks more aid poses for this group

Do No Harm: Aid, Weak Institutions and the Missing Middle in Africa

Abstract: The implicit assumption of the donor community is that Africa is trapped by its poverty, and that aid is necessary if it is to escape. This article suggests an alternative view: that Africa is caught in an institutional trap, signalled and reinforced by the small share of income of its independent middle strata. Theory and historical experience elsewhere suggest that a robust middle-income group contributes critically to the creation and sustenance of healthy institutions, particularly of the state. The article argues that if external aid is to be helpful for institution-building in Africa's weak and fragile states, donors need to emphasise not providing more aid but minimising the risks more aid poses for this group.

"The Bush is No More": Insights on Institutional Change and Natural Resource Availability in Rural South Africa.

Abstract: The past decade has brought substantial transition to South Africa. The introduction of democracy in 1994 has yielded important political and socioeconomic transformations affecting millions of people. Here, we explore the impact of institutional and structural changes on the availability and management of fuelwood, a key natural resource in rural South Africa. As in other developing regions, many households depend on natural resources for both sustenance and energy needs. Drawing on qualitative data from 32 interviews, our objective is to describe, from the perspective of the respondents, (1) resource scarcity, (2) the underlying causes of resource scarcity, (3) the role of traditional authority in managing resources, and (4) strategies used by community members in the face of resource scarcity. The results have important implications for the well-being of both social and natural systems in many transitional, rural developing societies.

Spirituality as sustenance for mental health and meaningful doing: a case illustration.

Abstract: In the past 10-20 years there has been increasing interest in the relationship between spirituality and health. I interviewed six patients from community mental health centres, using a phenomenological approach to explore how concepts of spirituality, occupation and mental illness/mental health are related. One person's story is presented to illustrate the issues. Four main themes were identified: Spirituality is a phenomenon that provides meaning to life. Spirituality can help a person cope with mental illness. Spiritual beliefs can make everyday occupations more meaningful and health-enhancing. Some people find it valuable to engage in shared occupations that focus on spirituality. Spirituality is an important and relevant issue to be discussed between patients and health practitioners, provided that practitioners can exercise sensitivity, caution, tolerance and acceptance of values that may differ from their own.

Elections : an exploration of theoretical postulations

Abstract: There is no doubt that a free and fair election is a sine qua non for electoral democracy, but not every election fulfils these criteria. Against this premise this paper attempts to explore theoretical postulations vis-a-vis elections. With brief introductory remarks emphasising the importance of elections to democratic sustenance and consolidation, the paper proceeds to examine the democratic utility of elections in all regions and climes and the misconception that elections held regularly are an end in themselves and not a means to an end. The third section dwells on the necessary prerequisites for the conduct of a free and fair election, thereby bringing out the peculiar existential reality of African politics. The paper infers that democratic sustenance via elections may not be easily attainable until African politicians become democrats themselves. This is not unconnected with the fact that no polity can nurture democracy until democrats evolve.

Mountain commons: changing space and status at community levels in the Himalayas

Abstract: This paper deals with the imperatives of nature-society interaction in the Himalayas as seen through CPR (Common Property Resources). It specifically looks at the process and factors that characterize the dynamics of the above interactions, with particular reference to the changing status and governance of CPRs at community levels. The paper puts together the synthesis of observations and inferences of different studies by ICIMOD and others in mountain regions, particularly in different parts of Nepal, India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, China and Pakistan. Rural CPRs (providing sustenance supplies and services) as an important component of a community's natural resource base, manifest the institutional arrangements evolved by the communities to facilitate their adaptations to nature. The above process can be more clearly illustrated with reference to specific characteristics of mountain areas, called mountain specificities. However, over time, the situation of CPRs in terms of their extent and status, governance and management as well as contributions to community sustenance, has changed. The paper attempts to indicate potential lead lines for searching options for rehabilitation of CPRs, based on a closer understanding of the factors contributing to their decline.

Special Economic Zones in India: White Elephants or Race Horses

Abstract: On the basis of economic theory and history we can conclude that absorption of agricultural labour is necessary for sustained economic development of a developing country. Special Economic Zones (SEZs) constitute a medium for such sustenance. However, the SEZ policy in India has suffered from permission being granted for far too many sub-optimally sized SEZs or for others serving as appendages to mega cities and therefore inheriting all the diseconomies associated with the large size of the latter.

Unmaking the slums: emerging rules, roles, and repertoires

Abstract: Slums are man-made; therefore, they could be unmade. But the rules will be formed by people other than governments: the politician who urges a rent boycott; the property baron who assembles land and distributes plots for development; the industrialist ready to pollute the air and the water, but caring enough to let neighbors use his clinic and his borehole; the minor official with a flair for manipulating the administrative code for his people’s benefit. The rules of life and sustenance in the slums go beyond the statute book and the manual. In fact, it is not surprising that seemingly scientific methods of observation and analysis produce perplexing results. In many instances in the past, different methods of data collection gave different answers. The conflict between survey questionnaires and participatory methods of data collection is very apparent.1 There is also a problem with very localized case study approaches since they portray the special needs and preferences of a small community and draw no meaningful conclusions for the larger society of slum residents.2 The priorities

Performing identities at work: evidence from contrasting sectors

Abstract: This paper argues that in making products and services organizations shape (create, sustain and/or change) the way workers individually and collectively think about themselves and the way they are seen by others. The empirical results are drawn from interviews, observations and periods of work shadowing in the service sector, the ?knowledge based economy? and traditional manufacturing. The findings highlight the particular ways in which organizations mould and shape worker identities. This includes the creation of new identities for workers to inhabit, the sustenance of existing identities formed elsewhere and the realignment of well established identities in the context of work reorganization.

Institutional Development as a Challenge to Democratic Sustenance in Nigeria

Abstract: Certain pre-conditions that can broadly be classified as economic, social and political have been regarded as essential for sustaining democracy. Among these, the political factor in terms of institutional development may be regarded as vital, for these institutions serve as viable channels for ventilating people's expectations and their dissatisfaction through non-violent means. Besides, they also serve as effective means to establish political accountability. However, more than the mere presence of the political institutions that help democratic sustenance, what matters is the fact that they must be nursed and developed to a level that other narrow, exclusivist ties like ethnic loyalties become less important. In other words, within the process of institutional development, there should be a balanced development of these institutions so that no one particular institution becomes powerful at the expense of other institutions. The experience of Nigeria highlights the troubled times the political parties, ...

A Fishy Romance: Chiefly Power and the Geopolitics of Desire

Abstract: What can fish stories tell us about how people live with the complexities of rapid environmental transformations and the local effects of national, globalized, and neoliberal desires for resources? To answer this, I take the Ta'atu fish harvesting ritual and accompanying oral narrative to be an "ecography" that addresses human intimacies and changes on a small atoll in Tonga. This type of analysis draws on traditional ecological, political, and sociological knowledge, as well as geography, history, and cultural symbols, to give a deeper understanding of place and the contemporary experience of people intimate with the local environment as source of food and livelihood. When examined in the light of today's drastically depleted stocks of Pacific pelagic fishes such as skipjack tuna, the ecography of the Ta'atu provides a benchmark for a shift in a human–fish relationship that provided Polynesians with practical and poetic sustenance for hundreds if not thousands of years. At the same time, the myth of the Ta'atu highlights the historic political importance of desire, beauty, and their confluence with bounty, in the production of generations of chiefly privilege and cultural practice. Imbricated with the shifts in human–fish and beauty–bounty relations are lessons for the contemporary chiefly–commoner relationship in Tonga, the last nation to claim status as an uninterrupted Polynesian kingdom, as well as laments for the loss of independence an important food resource offered. Today, as in the past, the Ta'atu is a fishy tale about the geopolitics of various desires.

A Faculty Interdisciplinary Institute as Liberator from Stifling Disciplinary Mythology

Abstract: An interdisciplinary professional development initiative targeted faculty teaching undergraduate liberal arts courses with the goal of enhancing the critical-thinking skills of learners. The authors emphasize innovative teaching strategies and educational technology. Results indicate that the institute promoted the adoption of learner-centered interdisciplinary strategies and the integration of technology in the courses of participants and established a faculty community for the sustenance of innovation.

Sustaining good governance : is ethics and anti-corruption initiatives and agencies the answer?

Abstract: The environments of public organisations have become characterised by complexity, speed and fragmentation. Although economic efficiency still serves as an important guiding principle, its twin brother, hierarchy, is no longer an organisational principle. In its place, public organisations now emphasise co-operative relationships in the context of politically-driven structures. The relevance of co-operation has acquired a new significance in changing contexts that place more emphasis on relationship vis-a-vis authority. A significant feature of co-operative relationships is the aspect of trust. It is contended that trust represents strength in all human relations. It is described as the social glue that holds together complex relational phenomena, leading to the belief that lack of trust between parties operating in network forms could lead to failure to attain set objectives, tensions between networking parties and general lack of co-operation. Governance, in particular, good governance, cannot be conceived in the absence of the aspect of trust between governance partners. Trust itself is inconceivable in the absence of ethics and a concerted effort to fight corruption (ant-corruption initiatives). Establishing good governance and the sustenance thereof pose challenges to governments in transition such as South Africa. Good governance and its sustenance is a product of unrelenting strive not only for clean government but of unwavering concerted effort by all stakeholders in governance to uphold ethicality and leave no room or little space for corrupt tendencies through strong and un-biased anti-corruption agencies. This article argues for ethics and anti-corruption initiatives in establishing and sustaining good governance. The point of departure is South Africa, which is considered a country in transition.

The growth and challenges of women's studies in thailand

Abstract: What have been the forces and constraints structuring the late and slow establishment of women's studies as a field of scholarship in Thailand? This paper seeks to provide a historical and cultural context for understanding the distinctiveness of Thailand in the region of Asia, especially the unique combination of political, social and educational institutions that have militated against the emergence of a culture of critique. In particular, the presence of a system of bilateral and matrilocal kinship in traditional times high work participation rates among women in modern times in a rapidly globalizing economy have been selectively viewed as signs of an absence of a high degree of gender discrimination in Thai society. The paper examines the divide between the household – where women are often pivotal in the sustenance of their families – and a public political culture, where women's internationally renowned ‘pleasing personality’ is a critical ingredient in a complex structure of subservience. The paper...

“Isto é o meu corpo”: rituais de alimentação e interação social no cristianismo primitivo.

Abstract: The practices of commensality are present in diverse religions, organize rituals and define systems of belonging. In Christianity, commensality serves to structure faith. In the Eucharist primitive Christianity communities, in shared solidarity, had the opportunity to experience one dignified meal per week. This principle of sharing referred to the practice of Jesus and extended itself to other meals of the community, providing welcome and sustenance to itinerant preachers and the poor.

Sense of Community and its Sustenance in Africa

Abstract: Sense of Community and its Sustenance in Africa There is no gainsaying the fact that Africa is inundated with many problems which have made the development and the attainment of social order, conceived in normative terms, daunting tasks. It is also a fact that there are many causes of this scenario such as political marginalization, ethnic chauvinism, economic mismanagement, religious bigotry and corruption in its various facets. However, in this disquisition we identify the lack of the development, internalization and application of the sense of community, loosely tagged community consciousness, as a major factor that has aggravated the African crisis and which if addressed can reverse the order of things positively. It is the contention of this paper that fundamentally in the case of Africa, as shown in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia and Nigeria, there has been a blind pursuit of private or individual interests to the detriment of the public sphere or public good. Ironically too, when leaders put up repressive laws in the pretense to pursue the public good, the underlying motive has always been the pursuit of selfish private whims and caprices. We noted that in contemporary Africa a major way towards a desired level of social order and development consists in engendering the required sense of community (a situation in which there is mutual co-operation, interdependence and fellow-feeling) on which other developments can be predicated. Although, the quest and realization of the sense of community is not a grand solution to our myriad of problems in Africa, at least it forms the basis on which we can start to address our problems in Africa in a meaningful way.

The Economics of Family Law

Abstract: The family, perhaps the most enduring institution in the history of civilization, performs many essential functions for individuals and societies: reproduction, physical and economic sustenance, socialization of children into the norms, values, and language of their culture, protection, care and emotional support for children and the elderly, regulation of sexual behavior, affection and companionship, and in many societies, education. In recent decades family law around the world has been transformed. In a sweeping wave of reform, all Western nations have enacted new family laws that are predicated on the fundamental principle of gender equality and are informed by the provisions of the international conventions relating to family life. These legislative changes have gone hand in hand with the growing complexity of family life, which in turn is closely interrelated with larger social trends, such as individualization, secularization, rapid urbanization and the increasing participation of women in the labor force. This working paper is an overview of recent developments in the economic analysis of family law. Beginning with the work of Gary Becker and the surge of the New Home Economics, it covers theories of household production and marriage market models, including the market for alternative living arrangements. It also discusses the economic approach to divorce and the effects of no-fault legislation on women and children from the findings of economists. Finally, it presents the ethical dilemmas posed by the recent advances in the field of reproductive technology (e.g. surrogate motherhood) viewing them under the lens of economics.

The Indian fisheries sector at the threshold of sixty momentous years of independence - in retrospect and prospect

Abstract: The Indian fisheries sector contributes to the nutritional security, income, employment, foreign exchange earnings and livelihood opportunities. Over the years, the sector evolved from a modest, traditional and sustenance level to a sophisticated and modern industrial enterprise, thanks to government initiatives and policies, several innovations made by the scientific community, support by the private industry and companies, fishermen, farmers, NGOs and self help groups. The country now occupies the third position in total world production and the second place in inland fish production. The resources, in terms of water bodies, species, infrastructure and technical manpower are enormous and have been harnessed to great extent. However, many inadequacies have been felt in many areas which need to be addressed, if the sector has to progress.

Sexual Facts and Values

Abstract: It is important for psychoanalysts to educate themselves about variant forms of sexual expression, such as the fact that heterosexual cross-dressers virtually never give up their preference because of psychotherapy. A more realistic therapeutic aim is to help the couple negotiate a workable relationship. Infidelity, too, has many possible definitions that can be negotiated by the couple. In some instances, the wish for extramarital contact may be motivated less by sexual desire than by other psychological needs, such as the fear of death and the wish for immortality. The sustenance of sexual passion in a long-term relationship is a phenomenon that requires greater understanding. Variation in lifestyle, as well as modifications in characterological ruts, can often help revive passion.

Aspirations, Enterprise Strategy and Sustenance of a Start-up in a Competitive Environment: A Study of Developments in Air Deccan

Abstract: This paper studies the developments in Air Deccan, a start up in the Indian aviation industry and discusses the linkages among the aspirations of the entrepreneur, enterprise strategy and its sustenance in a competitive environment. It argues that the entrepreneur fails to sustain his/her enterprise and the aspirations if his strategic and operational choices and environmental responses to the choices create a resource or competence imbalance and constrain the entrepreneur. Based on its analysis and discussion, the paper delineates managerial themes like encyclopedic entrepreneurship, sustenance through co-sharing aspirations, managing first and fast mover advantages, dynamics of enterprise and its environment and competence management in start- ups.

Emily Brontë and Emily Dickinson: Parallel Lives on Opposing Shores

Abstract: The lives of Emily Bronte and Emily Dickinson are seen as paradigms of the problems and responsibility of the biographer of the quiet life or inward world. The similar familial environment of the authors: strong father; lack of maternal influence; devoted siblings enjoying intellectual rivalry; a background of the written word, is examined. Both Emilies found sustenance and defence in their homes and suffered homesickness when absent. The influence of the Brontes, particularly of Emily and Charlotte, on Emily Dickinson and her poetry is investigated.

Number 43 Trelawney Park, KwaMagogo : untold stories of ordinary people caught up in the struggle against apartheid

Abstract: Number 43, Trelawney Park, a modest house in a suburb of Manzini, Swaziland, was for many years a vital base of operations for the ANC. The house was known as KwaMagogo ("place of the grandmother"), after Rebecca Makgomo Masilela -- the author's mother -- who provided sustenance and support to the cadres who operated from Swaziland during the liberation struggle. The title tells the stories of the ANC and PAC cadres who passed through Number 43, revealing their hopes and fears, and highlighting the high price that was paid for liberation. There is also fascinating background on high-profile operations, such as the Church Street bombing, and the activities of Eugene de Kock, Craig Williamson and Dirk Coetzee, as well as the defection of Glory September -- 'turned' by the security police in 1986 -- which unleashed a reign of terror in Swaziland.

A Process Maturity Model for Geographically Dispersed Software Sustenance Operations

Abstract: An increase in demand for software services has led to development of software from different dispersed locations. This has brought in complexities to managing software projects. This research work focuses on the development of a process maturity model that balances different perspectives in one organization that is carrying out software sustenance work from geographically dispersed locations.

Dignity and work: global market and self-sustenance

Abstract: It is argued here that market fundamentalistic theories ignore the issue of human agency in work, and the different types of work, because – focussing on the market mechanism, supply, demand, and price - they have lost track of that which economic activities (work) are intended for, namely self-sustenance. They have also minimised human agency in the economic theory, and therefore the understanding of being-human is lost from both economic theory and practice. Thus they cannot explicate the role of work for the individual and the community – namely care for self and others – the significance quality work as part of human dignity is forgotten. I am arguing for a restoring of meaningful self-sustenance as the norm for work, and the recognition of the dignifying role of such self-sustenance – both for the community and the individual.

Estelle Lau, Paper Families. Identity, Immigration Administration and Chinese Exclusion

Abstract: The U.S. Chinese exclusion laws enforced from 1882 to 1943 are proving to be a nearly bottomless source of scholarly inspiration. Not only is exclusion one of the substantive and intellectual foundations of Asian American studies and increasingly recognized as a fundamental aspect of U.S. immigration history, but the exclusion archives are a vast repository of diverse sources that will provide sustenance to intrepid and innovative scholars for years to come. Estelle Lau’s book adds to the bur...