Archive
Volume 6, Issue 2 (2015)
Water,
the Sacred and the Commons in Rajasthan: A Review of Anupam Mishra's
Philosophy of Water
Ricki Levi and Daniel Mishori
This paper surveys Anupam Mishra's
philosophy of water. Mishra works on rediscovery and revitalizing water
traditions in Rajasthan, based on Gandhian values of simplicity,
solidarity, mutual-dependence, traditional knowledge and practices and
commons-based resource management. He explores the traditional
practices and technologies of water harvesting and conservation and
reveals their socio-cultural infrastructure, rooted in
spiritual-religious conceptions, including the personal and social
virtues necessary for surviving and thriving in the arid desert. Indian
scholars and authors have contributed greatly to the criticism of
globalization, have highlighted its devastating effects on society and
the environment, and offer a non-Eurocentric understanding of the role
of civil society and communities. Mishra's significance lies in
depicting alternatives, rooted in localism, non-materialist values,
indigenous knowledge and commons-based management, and as depicting the
unity which exists between different facets of local communities
(religion, culture, language, spirituality and ethics) and the forms
and methods for managing and sustaining water as a commons, based on
localism and community, and not merely economic "assets" or
environmental "resources".
Ethnic
Conflict and Development in Africa: a Short Critical Discussion
Rama Venkataswamy
This paper critically discusses that
'ethnicity' is too elusive a concept to be unproblematically pronounced
as a major source of conflict that significantly impediments the
process of development in African countries in particular. It argues
that there are many other factors to be considered in this regard, by:
problematizing the drive for modernization and development in
postcolonial Africa; identifying some of the perspectives according to
which the inter-relationship between ethnicity, conflict and
development has been theorized and discussed; assessing and
problematizing the validity of these perspectives in reference to
specific African countries. And this paper also contextualizes
'development', in terms of its starting-point, pace and trajectory, as
well as critiques 'development' from a 'post-development' perspective.
The
"Newspeak" Dictionary of "Development": Deconstructing Development
Discourse and Calling Things by Their True Names
David Lempert
This article offers a short glossary
of some common terminology used by governments, international
organizations, economists and political scientists to describe their
interventions with peoples and communities of unequal power that they
currently call by the euphemism of "development". To help practitioners
and the public to deconstruct and decode the misuse of the terms and to
make the hidden agendas explicit, this article presents a glossary of
development "newspeak" to distinguish the misuse from the long-term
perspectives of both the mass public that is providing the funding for
and the victims who are on the receiving end of the interventions. A
plain English "emic" dictionary of development "newspeak" is a step
towards protecting cultures, human sustainability, international peace
and security, progress, and the planet earth.
Burmese
religion in Thailand
Sirima Ussawarakha
Thailand is the key destination for
migrant workers from countries over the Mekong River, notably Cambodia,
Lao PDR, and Myanmar. Among these three countries, migrant workers from
Myanmar are the largest group in Thailand. Specifically, there is a
concentration of up to 400,000 Myanmar migrant workers working and
residing in Samut Sakhon, which is situated in the central part of
Thailand connected to Tha Jeen River and surrounded by Bangkok, Samut
Songkhram, Ratchburi, and Nakhon Pathom. This region is a highly
industrial province where the export of seafood products is the main
economic activity, which requires a massive amount of laborers. After
moving to Samut Sakhon, Myanmar migrant workers negotiate their daily
life to be compatible with the social situation in Thailand. A number
of Myanmar migrant workers have changed their inherited practices to
integrate into Thai society. One thing, however, that Myanmar migrant
workers hold on to is their beliefs concerning Buddhism. Although they
migrate to Samut Sakhon, Myanmar migrant workers maintain their
religious activities through their local social networks. This paper
focuses on one informal social network in Samut Sakhon known as the Wat
Noi Nang Hong Association as a case study to reflect implicit and
explicit beliefs of Myanmar migrant workers exercised through network
activities. According to the situation in Samut Sakhon, this paper
argues that, with the unique beliefs of people from Myanmar, social
networks serve specific cultural needs of migrants due to their strong
values, especially issues related to the Buddhist religion. It can also
be argued that social network in Samut Sakhon provides Myanmar migrant
workers with social, cultural, and symbolic capital.
Use of Assistive Technology in Inclusive Education: Making Room for Diverse Learning Needs
Fouzia Khursheed Ahmad
Technology has great potential in providing to all
learners the ability to access the general education curriculum, and
with effective integration of assistive technology into the regular
classroom, students with special needs can have the provision of
multiple means to complete their work, with greater ease and
independence in performing tasks that they were formerly unable to
accomplish or had great difficulty in accomplishing. Approaches in the
use of assistive technology in inclusive education basically focus in
using technology to train or rehearse, and to assist and enable
learning. Since students with disabilities are frequently trapped in a
vicious cycle of exclusion from education, society and mainstream
development programmes, lacking the means for equal participation; the
effective use of assistive technology can help assist them in
addressing the 'functional barriers' and increase, maintain, or improve
their learning outcomes. In the much needed endeavour of accepting,
respecting and celebrating diversity; this paper attempts to discuss
and highlight the need and scope for the use of assistive technology in
inclusive education, to help include the excluded.
