Archive
Volume 7, Issue 2 (2016)
Beyond
Interdisciplinarity: Developing a Global Transdisciplinary Framework
Eve Darian-Smith and Philip McCarty
In this essay we argue that the
Euro-American academy is entering a
new integrative paradigm that is moving scholarly practice beyond the
disciplinary/
interdisciplinary divide. Drawing on the development of
interdisciplinary approaches
over the past four decades, we suggest that the theoretical and
analytical boundaries
between conventional disciplines are becoming less relevant in the
creation of lines of inquiry
and knowledge production that expressly seek to explore today's complex
global
world. Combining interdisciplinary approaches with perspectives from
the new field of
Global Studies, we argue that what is emerging is a coherent,
accessible and inclusive
paradigm that we call a global transdisciplinary framework. The
framework makes it
possible to study multifaceted global-scale issues in a holistic
fashion, deploying various
perspectives at multiple levels and across spatial and temporal
dimensions. The
framework also intentionally includes previously marginalized
perspectives and epistemologies
in the production of new knowledge. What is being forged, we conclude,
is
a new paradigm that has the potential to become applicable and
accessible to many
scholars even when their research interests are not explicitly "global"
in nature. In the
longer term, it also has the potential to open up western scholarship
to non-western
modes of thinking, and fostering inclusive, productive and relevant
globally informed
scholarship.
Understanding
Media-Politics-Economy-Society Interrelationship in India: Relevance of
Habermas and Chomsky
Arani Basu
The salient focus of this paper is to
locate the relevance of Jürgen Habermas
and Noam Chomsky within the context of media-politics-economy interface
in
India. This paper argues that Indian media is in close relationship
with the politics
and the economy of the country, especially after the new economic
policies were
adopted by the then government in 1990 that opened the Indian market
for foreign
investments. This paved the way from publicly owned media to privatized
media in
India. The shift in the structure of media as an institution brought
with it concomitant
changes in terms of ownership, editorial policies and dissemination of
news by
media houses. The paper aims at decoding and explaining this shift and
the emerging
relationship between media, politics and economy in India adjacent to
it by taking
recourse to Habermas' concept of Public Sphere and Chomsky's
understanding of
Propaganda Model.
Revisiting
the mother tongues of the De-Notified tribes in India
Digambar Ghodke
A considerable discussion is going on
the human rights of certain itinerant
groups. With the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights, a concern
related to the
vanishing voices of the deprived sections should also haunt the minds
of the think-
tank. The present article is an attempt to perceive the mother tongues
(MTs) spoken
by various groups from the de-notified tribes (DNTs) in India, the
itinerant groups
of people who have always been looked down upon by sedentary
communities for
their unsettled and deviating life style. After having analyzed the
official reports
available and also observing the general linguistic behaviour of the
DNTs, the study
argues that our perception of the MTs of these groups has been
predetermined by the
reports of the erstwhile British colonial officials hence there is a
need
to revisit and
describe them afresh. The study claims that the languages spoken either
by the well-
off or underprivileged groups of the society have their own
peculiarities and `creative
systems' so they need to be understood objectively.
The
Status of Cultural Competence
at a Health Care Service Setting in South West Ethiopia:
The Case of Jimma University Specialized Hospital
Sisay Alemayehu and Dejene Teshome
Nowadays, cultural competence has
become an important component of
health care services. Hence, this study intends to examine the status
of cultural
competence at Jimma University Specialized Hospital. We used purposive
sampling
technique to select physicians, patients and administrative staff
informants. We then
conducted non-participant observation, in depth interviews, key
informant interviews
and focus group discussion to generate data. The findings from this
study reveal
that the health care service at the specialized hospital is less in
touch with cultural
competence. A number of barriers impede the provision of culturally
competent health
care in the hospital. The study suggests that national and organization
level policies
should be in place to integrate cultural competence into health care
services.
