This dissertation explores the presence of the divine feminine in Indic river myths of the Ganga, the Narmada, and the Meenachil as represented in the three novels: Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide, Gita Mehta’s A River Sutra, and Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things. It challenges masculinist nationalistic narratives, and identifies itself as a feminist revisionist work by strategically combining Indian debates on religious interpretations with Western phenomenological and psychoanalytical perspectives to open up productive lines of critical enquiry. I argue that the three postcolonial novelists under survey resurrect the power of the feminine by relocating this power in its manifestation as the turbulent and indomitable force of three river goddesses. In their myths of origin, the goddesses are “unchaste,” uncontainable, and ambiguous. Yet, Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian patriarchy manipulated and coerced women for their political purposes. They denied female agency in order to promote a brand of nationalism bordering on religious zeal and subjugation through imposed paradigms of chastity. The patriarchy conflated the imaginary chastity of the mother goddess in her multiple manifestations--including but not limited to the River Ganga--with the exalted position forced upon the young Indian widow. Popular art of the colonial period in India dismantled the irrepressible sexual ambiguity of the divine feminine for the Indian population, and reinvented her as a chaste, mother figure (Bharat Mata, or Mother India), desexualized her, and held her up as an iconic, pervasive figurehead of the Motherland. Ironically though, the makeover of the uncontrollable, “chaotic” feminine into this shackled entity during and after the Indian freedom struggle is just the kind of ambiguity that appears in discourses of nation building. By reaffirming the archaic myths of the feminine, Ghosh, Mehta, and Roy dislodge the colonial project and the patriarchal Indian independence movement that sought to “chastise” the divine feminine. I suggest that in these three novels pre-colonial images of the river goddesses--presented in all their ambiguous, multiple, and fluid dimensions--are a challenge to the Indian nationalist project that represents the goddesses one dimensionally as an iconic figure, unifying the geo-body of India and symbolically projecting her as the pure, homogenous Bharat Mata.

碩士 / 淡江大學 / 保險學系保險經營碩士在職專班 / 98 / At the climate changes meeting of the United Nations, Indian Premier Inty draws Gandhi and puts forward a question in 2009: "Poverty and pollution needing not to be just greatest?” The poverty is a main reason why an environment depredates, and the main consequence that an environment depredates too. The United Nations proposed eight major goals in 2000, the most primary and also the most important goal is to hope to make the poor numbers of people in the world reduce by half in 2015, so this becomes micro-insurance and opens the most important beginning of prelude. At present goal guest of the business insurance market group all regards middle and upper stratum of the Pyramid as the main target, but not represent the low income one has no demand of insurance or has no potentiality to be exploited, therefore this research for introduce definition, operating strategy, innovative concept of marketing of the micro-insurance and India with quite effective micro-insurance. The ground market of the Pyramid developing gradually, the concept of micro channel will be attention, and the economic people of the low income build and construct the sound social safety net to consider, the development space of the micro-insurance is the Blue Ocean of insurance market as the domestic insurance. The documents via the arrangement, summing up and analyzing, and according to the Modified Delphi Method , the difference from the selling in the end and production (insurance company) gather together suggestions of experts after the result of twice questionnaires. Propose the conclusion and suggestion for follow-up researcher''s reference. To hope can reach the stability of social economy with the micro-insurance, creating the government, insurance company and the Pyramid of ground (weak grouping) win-win-win.

Four years ago, on May 15th 2011, we witnessed in the Spanish State ‘something’ that was quickly and popularly referred to as 15M or the Indignados. Since that day, 15M has had a tremendous impact on the way a large part of the Spanish population understands itself and its response-abilities and rights. In addition, 15M has affected the way in which a large part of the Spanish population understands its environment and those living-beings with whom said environment is co-created and co-inhabited. In this essay I immerse myself in an on-going non-disciplinary, multi-traditional multilogue with individuals being 15M. What I witness, feels and looks like a complex; mutating and dialogic; collective and cooperative; agonistic and transformative 'climate' that many refer to as el clima 15M (15m climate). Allowing different 15M wisdoms to frame the research, I envision this essay as an attempt at gaining a dialogical understanding of what it is that we might be speaking of when referring to 15M. Through this exploration, I seek to place my work within the sketched parameters of what James Tully refers to as public philosophy. The essay engages with individuals being 15M and with the vast literature in Spain around 15M and party-movement Podemos by academics and participants, and the European literature around populism, horizontality and Podemos grounded in Antonio Gramsci. It also draws on reciprocal elucidation literature in theory and in participatory, community-based social science. Moreover, the essay enters into dialogue with a whole body of literature on instrumental versus constitutive means-ends views of political change going back to Mahatma Gandhi and forward to Aldous Huxley, Richard Gregg, Hannah Arendt, Robert Young, Gene Sharp and Cesar Chavez. By giving ‘perspicuous representation’ or thick description of 15M by means of reciprocal elucidation, I am able to make a unique contribution to the theoretical literature on reciprocal elucidation and public philosophy. I am also able to disclose the field of 15M (the phenomenon) in a way that shows it to be different from the way 15M appears in other theoretical frames. Finally, the use of this method of reciprocal elucidation makes a unique contribution to community-based and engaged forms of social scientific research. / Graduate / 0422 / 0615 / 0344 / pouziel@uvic.ca

This thesis aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the political ambitions and actions of the Theosophical Society within the emerging nationalist movement in India during 1879-1930. Different theoretical perspectives have been applied depending on the historical context, and Ludwik Fleck’s theory of thought collectives and thought styles served as a general frame for interpreting the movement’s actions and development A central concern in this study has been the attempt to explain how a numerically small movement with its roots in the West could come to have political influence in India for a period of time. The study starts off in a western historical context in an attempt to uncover the reasons behind the movement's commitment to India. It focuses on a culture or civilization critique the Theosophical Society shared with several other contemporary movements. The first part of the thesis examines the theosophical movement's establishment in India. The relationship with other Indian reform movements has been identified and dividing lines behind the official's eclectic attitude have been shown. The theosophical activities in India can thus be understood in relation to its critique of the modern development of society. My study of the period partly indicates shifts in opinions over time and position-takings with clear elements of competition in relation to other reform movements. The second study examines the theosophist’s involvement in education and discusses how the nationalist/theosophical educational ideals are reflected in tuition and in textbooks. Emphasis on the connection to the students’ own reality in order to develop a national consciousness is central. One's own religion, the historical narratives and the mother language are at the forefront of a national identity. The theosophist’s ambitions were to overcome the political and religious issues, but the network that was developed were too challenging to be accepted. The third study examines theosophy in the open political arena. The pattern is partly the same in terms of methods to reach a consensus for the main target - Home Rule. The political challenges were reflected in an increased political mobilization, which broadened the political activities outside the Congress. My study shows that there was an opposition in the theosophical movement to the politicization during the war, also among leading theosophists. After the war the marginalization of Theosophy was obvious in politics when the theosophical leadership chose to opt out of the Congress under Gandhi's leadership. / Per-Olof Fjällsby

碩士 / 中原大學 / 宗教研究所 / 101 / Mother Teresa is not just religious but also universal, her thought is beyond the boundary of India and the Christian religion; Mother Teresa , like Tagore and Gandhi became identical with India. Perhaps Mother Theresa was not a philosopher, she did not have her complete philosophical writing, but the inspiration of the Lord's Prayer became the best fountain of her philosophical thought. She brought out her calling and vision, through the fruit of the Lord's Prayer repeatedly , which is derived from the thought of Jesus Christ, the Lord's Prayer . Mother Teresa did not want others to follow her, she hoped everyone take her as a model to follow Jesus, she did not follow any theological doctrine, the thoughts of godfather, she only follows Jesus as Saint Teresa of Lisieux. Anyhow she is a follower of Jesus theology, no matter what religion she encourages believers to follow Jesus, The essential of Jesus theology is in the midst of the Lord's Prayer. Poverty is already a worldwide problem, even today, G8 or G7 (Seven industrialized nations); the country also has a serious problem of poverty. Mother Theresa thinks the material poverty is far less terrible than the spiritual poverty. Love makes all poverty become surpluses. To solve the problem of poverty is less effectiveness than exalt the love of Jesus. It is the spindle of practicing faith in the life of Mother Teresa. This year is the fifth anniversary of Mother Teresa since she returned to the Lord. Concerning the compilation and publication of Sister Teresa's behavior and practicing thought are consistently being published. In these works, some people regard her as a good manager, marketing experts and business leaders, however, I believe that all these originate from her belief, so let us to re-recognize Mother Teresa through the Lord's Prayer.

Gender is given a new definition that differs from the feminist conceptualization of the issue in this study of selected short stories by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) and Rabindranath Tagore (1865-1941). In the colonial ordering or pervasive power mechanism, gender regulates all men and all women. Gender is just as manifest in race, class, rank, manners, and beliefs as it is in sexual ordering. My new coinage of the term "genderization" is defined as an enforcement of power relationships and indicates either a negative or positive effect on society within colonial practices. Literature seen as an avenue of creative genderization leads to a fresh assessment of Kipling and Tagore. Despite a history of divisive practical conditions and a negative discursive heritage, a creative and conciliatory transformation of gender is contained within the short fiction of Kipling and Tagore. Indispensable in understanding postcolonialism, yet not credited for it, Kipling spoke from the forum of the ruling Anglo administration and indirectly undermined the rigid race policy. This author deserves more recognition for the cross cultural healing gestures within his Indian short stories. Tagore, the first non-European Nobel Prize winner and the father of Indian modernism, spoke in a muted manner to appease the persistent censorship and the hostilities of the orthodox Hindus against his desired modernist reforms. Well known in the West for his lyrical poetry, easily accredited as the spiritual mentor of Gandhi, Tagore is much less understood as a writer who used short story as a positive vehicle of reform. The idea of "structuration" proposed by Anthony Giddens, defines society in three distinct yet interactive structures that cover the practical world (political, economic, bureaucratic, and military), the discursive tradition (religion, literature, media, and education), and the unconscious (myth, music, cultural beliefs). Giddens' kinetic, inclusive, and flexible model helps to elucidate these cryptic short stories written during a transitional period of high imperialism. Biographical and sociopolitical data are intertextually brought together to reveal the subtexts of the short stories. These two dissimilar authors, responding to the great paradigm shift of modernism, nonetheless project an ideal world of rational and material progress in an international global union.

Background The mindset of an individual is made up by perception and motivation. Motivation is in turn driven by personal experiences, values and goals. Many times, a personal experience can act as a ‘Gandhi-moment’ or a triggering event to take action towards achieving a specific outcome. For a social entrepreneur, this outcome is many times some type of positive social change. In order for the social entrepreneur to create this, he or she needs to be innovative and creative, and therefore stay open towards new opportunities and perspectives to not get stuck in a particular mindset. Purpose The purpose of the thesis is to investigate the role of personal experiences and a person’s mindset in the start-up of a social project. Furthermore, the study aims to explore how a change in one’s mindset can result in social projects or enterprises that are successfully able to create social change. Method The research approach of the thesis takes the form of a multiple case study; one main large case and four illustrative smaller ones. The data analysis is of abductive style, going back and forth between theory and empirical data. Conclusion It can be concluded that personal experiences can serve as a motivational platform for an individual starting a project or enterprise, aiming to create a social change. However, other elements of a person’s mindset will also influence this process, in terms motivation and perception. Furthermore, for changes in society to occur, changes first needs to be made from within. Therefore, in order for a social entrepreneur to create actual social change; he or she needs to go through a process of mindset-change.

This study explored the role of School Management Teams (SMTs) in leading and managing school-based teacher professional development. This was a case study of three schools from Mafukuzela-Gandhi circuit in Pinetown district. Participants comprised twelve Principals, Deputy Principal, HODs and teachers who were involved in one-toone interviews (for principals) and focus group interviews (for deputy principals, HODs and teachers). Data were also collected through observations and document analysis. According to the information from participants, school-based teacher professional development is necessary because in schools there are unqualified teachers, inexperienced teachers and teachers who qualified a long time ago. All these categories of educators need to be trained and equipped with skills and knowledge that would enable them to teach effectively and efficiently. Findings show that SMTs hold meetings to identify specific problems facing teachers in schools with the intention to assist teachers to overcome the problems they face, SMTs organise school-based training workshops. The challenges that face SMTs in executing school-based teacher professional development include: non-involvement of teachers in decision-making; incompetence of some SMTs in running the workshops; lack of cooperation from teachers and negative attitudes of some teachers who do not want to change. The study concludes by suggesting a modified model of a professional development design framework that can be utilised to minimise SMTs' challenges in school-based teachers‟ professional development. / Thesis (M. Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

In this thesis, I read transgressive archetypes from the Mahabharata and how these particular archetypes have been produced in novels and films, in relation to their his~orical contexts. Throughout my analysis and exploration I consider that identities are produced, not 'natural' , and that what is considered to be sexual dissidence differs in different contexts. I look at the relationship between narratives of sexual dissidences and the nationalist constructs of heteronorrnativity, ultimately seeking to find the ways in which non-heteronormative constructs can produce disruption to postcolonial, nationalist narratives. The first two chapters explore the re-writing of the Mahabharata character, Amba, a female, who later becomes Sikhandin(i), a female who becomes male. Chapter One explores a re-working of this transgressive archetype in Bankimchandra Chatterji's nationbuilding novel, Anandamath. Amba appears as Shanti, a female who cross-dresses to become Nabinananda and help free the motherland. I explore the disruptions to normative gender and query the foundations of the 'nation as mother.' Chapter Two explores the narrative functions of the same mythological archetype in Shashi Tharoor's The Great Indian Novel. It also articulates an 'idea ofIndia', but at a very different moment. Since the novel is re-written through the epic, there are, apart from Amba, many more characters from the Mahabharata within the text; I read these to explor~ the production of the 'idea ofIndia' through queered bodies. In Chapter Three I focus on yaari (romantic friendship between men), in popular Hindi cinema of the 1970s. The chapter explores the re-working of transgressive archetypes in Bollywood narratives from the era of Indira Gandhi's Emergency and reads them against recent films from India and the South Asian diaspora identified as 'gay' or 'lesbian'. I explore the articulation of romance between men against representations of sexual identity, both in relation to the narrative of the nation.

The approach taken is based in post-structuralist and post-colonialist thinking and the substantive content explores a genealogy of knowledge about three hegemonic signifiers, pertaining to the identity of members of the Indian diaspora. The signifiers explored are ‘British Indian’, ‘Non-Resident Indian’ and ‘Global Indian’. The perspective adopted has been influenced by research which falls under the rubric of ‘critical geopolitics’. Reflecting this influence, diasporic identities, as defined in this thesis, develop as a result of political practice and as a form of discourse. The thesis draws on Foucaudian-informed discourse analysis to interrogate sights (visions), sites (locations) and cites (texts) contributing to the social construction of diasporic identities and the role of geographical (sociospatial) knowledge in that social construction. The thesis draws on both historical and contemporary sources and adopts a comparative analytical framework. Historical sources, examined to explore the ‘formal’ geopolitical visions of a diasporic intellectual and to unpack contemporaneous, ‘popular’ constructions of diasporic identity, include: <i>Indian</i> <i>Opinion</i>, the newspaper first published in 1904 which was edited by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi until 1914, during his sojourn as a ‘British Indian’ in South Africa; his autobiography, <i>The Story of My Experiments with Truth</i> and its companion volume <i>Satyagraha in South Africa</i>. Contemporary sources, examined to explore ‘practical’ and ‘popular’ geographical visions, include interviews with actors and political elites, investigating, amongst other things, the India Investment Centre’s ‘practical’ involvement with ‘Non-Resident Indians’ from 1991-1998. The main source examined to explore ‘popular’ visions of these diasporic identities is the influential news weekly <i>India Today</i>. Key findings indicate the significance of narratives containing values and beliefs about forms of ‘capital’ in re-presentations of diasporic identities.