"Bombay is the future of urban civilization on the planet. God help us" (Suketu Mehta) Mit dieser Prophezeiung verweist Suketu Mehta in seiner diasporischen Reisereportage Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found (2004) nicht nur auf die wachsende ökonomische Bedeutung der Millionen-Metropole Bombays, sondern thematisiert auch die 'degenerierten' Lebensformen außerhalb oder 'unterhalb' des stolzen monumentalen Raumes der wohlhabendsten postkolonialen 'neuen' Metropole. In ihrer Antrittsvorlesung am 28.04.2010 eruiert und verwendet Prof. Dr. Cecile Sandten, Inhaberin der Professur für Anglistische Literaturwissenschaft, die Begriffe "Metroglorification", "Diffuse Urbanism", das Postkoloniale oder den Palimpsestraum mit Bezg auf die so genannten "neuen" Metropolen. Die Veranstaltung beginnt um 19 Uhr im Hörsaalgebäude an der Reichenhainer Straße 90, Raum 113. Im Zentrum der Antrittsvorlesung stehen literarische und mediale Repräsentationen des Postkolonialen im urbanen Raum in den so genannten 'neuen Metropolen' wie Bangalore, Bombay, Delhi, Hongkong, Johannisburg, Kapstadt oder Lagos. In ihrer Vorlesung begreift Prof. Dr. Cecile Sandten die 'neuen Metropolen' als Palimpsesträume, in denen kosmopolitische bzw. globale, gleichsam individuelle und/oder kollektive Identitätsentwürfe auf vielschichtigen Bedeutungsebenen verhandelt werden. Diese Verhandlungen gelingen bzw. misslingen wiederum in Abhängigkeit von der Wechselwirksamkeit performativer und narrativer (Re-)Inszenierungen kolonialer Geschichte(n) und deren postkolonialen Transformationen und Dekonstruktionen. Vor dem Hintergrund urbaner Eigengeschichte(n) und exil-urbaner Fremdgeschichte(n), wie sie z.B. aus der Sicht von neuen Migrantinnen und Migranten oder (politischen) Flüchtlingen erzählt werden, wird dieses Phänomen anhand einer Auswahl an englischsprachigen literarischen und medialen Texten analysiert. Untersucht werden dabei die ungleichen Machtverhältnisse, die im postkolonialen (Stadt)Raum vorherrschen, als auch die vielfältigen Repräsentationen der metropolitanen Unterwelt auch im Sinne des 'Liminalraums', wie sich dieser im Zusammenhang mit z.B. illegalen Migrantinnen und Migranten, Slum-Bewohnern, Kriminellen und in Bezug auf korrupte Regierungen darstellt. Weiterhin soll durch die verschiedenen literarischen und medialen Protagonisten auch das benjaminsche Konzept des "Flaneurs" – in seiner Neuformierung hin zum 'postkolonialen Flaneur' – betrachtet werden.

Tableau d’honneur de la Faculté des études supérieures et postdoctorales, 2010-2011 / Depuis une dizaine d'années, les orientations de l'Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS) en santé mentale donnent priorité, mondialement, au développement de programmes de sensibilisation. En Inde, dans un contexte où l'engagement de l'État en santé mentale est, au mieux, ponctuel, certaines organisations non gouvernementales (ONG) occupent un rôle considérable dans la production d'un savoir public sur le sujet. À l'aide de données, collectées et analysées de façon qualitative, la perspective anthropologique élaborée dans ce mémoire vise à la fois à poser un regard critique sur les relations de pouvoir entre les acteurs qui influencent les savoirs produits par des intervenants d'ONG de Mumbai, et à explorer les processus dynamiques d'appropriation des savoirs biomédicaux, des pratiques et des modèles de sensibilisation «dominants» à l'échelle internationale. Cette appropriation s'avère sélective et hétérogène, bien que limitée, et se traduit par le rejet de savoirs locaux non-biomédicaux comme par la valorisation de structures sociales et familiales considérées «traditionnelles».

This dissertation explores whether women and men can be empowered through cultural nationalism based on religious/ethnic identities. Religious fundamentalism is typically not associated with women's empowerment. As a patriarchal, Hindu nationalist party that advocates violence, the Shiv Sena is also an unlikely agent of women's empowerment. Yet, the Sena has been attracting numerous women who claim to have gained confidence through the party. Using the Shiv Sena as my case study, I interviewed four male and seven female Shiv Sena members using the biographic narrative method. By examining their biographic narratives and interviews of their families and colleagues, I was able to delineate the different empowerment cycles for men and women in Shiv Sena and determine each participant's level of empowerment. The empowerment framework defined by Jo Rowlands (1997), which distinguishes between personal, collective, and relational empowerment, serves as the basis of my assessment of women's and men's empowerment. As violence is generally disregarded as a means of empowerment, I discuss it in relation to the construction of empowering cultural identities. While establishing theoretical frameworks regarding empowerment, cultural identity and gender, I also examine the disempowerment of Maharashtrians (whom Shiv Sena originally represented) by the socio-economic and historical conditions of Bombay, India. I then demonstrate how Shiv Sena, led by its Chief, Bal Thackeray, has constructed a new hegemonic masculine identity for Maharasthrian men as a means of empowerment. In the final chapters, I examine Shiv Sena's impact on the lives of individual women and men. This analysis revealed that despite the patriarchal constraints imposed by the Sena, women were becoming personally empowered in both the private and public spheres. In contrast, while Shiv Sena men were achieving collective empowerment in the public sphere, they had more difficulty becoming personally empowered in both the home and workplace.

The seaport of Bombay is often referred to as India's "Gothic City." Reminders of British colonial rule are seen throughout South Bombay in its Victorian architecture and sculpture. In the heart of Bombay lies the Victoria Terminus, a towering, hybrid railway station blending gothic and vernacular architectures. Built at the height of the British Empire, the terminus is evidence of the rapid modernization of Bombay through the philanthropy of the Parsis. This religious and ethnic minority became quick allies to the British Raj; their generous donations funded the construction of the "Gothic City." The British viewed the Parsis as their peers, not the colonized. However, Parsi-funded architectural ornament reveals that they saw themselves on equal footing with Bombay's indigenous populations. The Parsis sought to integrate Indian and British art, design, and culture. Through their arts patronage they created an artistic heritage unique to Bombay, as seen in the architectural crown of Bombay, the Victoria Terminus.The Parsi philanthropist, Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy was the most influential in Bombay's modern art world. He was chosen with other Indian elites to serve on the selection committee for the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London. He selected India's finest works to demonstrate India's rich tradition of the decorative arts. In turn, these works were viewed within the Indian Pavilion by the Victorian public and design reformer Owen Jones. Jones used many of the objects at the India Pavilion in his design book, The Grammar of Ornament. This book went on to inspire the eclectic architectural ornament of Victorian Britain and eventually Bombay. Jeejeebhoy sold the majority of the works from the exhibition to the Victorian and Albert Museum and the Department of Sciences and Art in South Kensington. The objects were studied by design students in South Kensington who were later hired by Jeejeebhoy to be instructors at the Bombay School of Art. This school taught academic European art alongside traditional Indian design forthe purpose of creating public art works. Thus, the Parsis were important cultural mediators who funded British and Indian craftsmen to create symbols of "progress," such as the Victoria Terminus, for a modern India.

The project was about empowering young women in Dharavi. The building is a school of Home science.

No description available.

Thesis (MDram (Drama))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this thesis is to study the themes of identity and belonging in the films of Mira Nair. Three films form the basis of this study namely Salaam Bombay!, Mississippi Masala and Monsoon Wedding. The approach is thematic, i.e using the film to explore different socio-political themes of identity rather than looking at the methodology she uses as a filmmaker. The analysis of each of the three films looks at a particular form of identity namely national, cultural or personal identity, and makes reference to Nair’s own comments on the films as well as academic articles on the films, her work and issues such as identity, nostalgia, home, belonging, marginalization, immigrants, street children and the like, in order to interrogate Nair’s exploration of the particular ideas within these films. It examines the films as if it were a work of literature, and looks at how it deals with these issues within a filmic context. What symbols does she use to show us we are dealing with cultural identity? Which character is symbolic of the modernist movement? Finally it examines the potential effect of these films on the society from which they derive, and comes to some conclusions about the effect these films may have in challenging, shaping and/or influencing ideas about nostalgia, home, identity, and so on. The discussions of the films show that she has been superbly able to exploit all the advantages of her chosen medium to bring her remarkable visual inventiveness and artistry into play in order to communicate this to an international audience and to make them think about the issues at hand. The filmmaker is finally established not only as simply a creator of film, but ultimately as a thinker and poet. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie tesis is om die temas van identiteit en ‘n gevoel van behoort in die films van Mira Nair te bestudeer. Drie films vorm die basis van die studie naamlik Salaam Bombay!, Mississippi Masala en Monsoon Wedding. Die aanslag is tematies van aard, m.a.w. dit gebruik die films om die verskillende sosio-ekonomise temas van identiteit te identifiseer en ontleed, eerder as om die metodologie van haar as filmmaker te bestudeer. Die analise van elke van die drie films kyk na ‘n spesifieke vorm van identiteit, naamlik nasionale, kulturele of persoonlike identiteit en maak verwysing na kommentaar deur Nair haarself, sowel as akademiese artikels oor die films, haar werk en kwessies van identiteit, nostalgie, die konsep van ‘n tuiste, ‘n gevoel van behoort, marginalisasie, immigrante, straat kinders en dies meer. Die doel is om sodoende Nair se idees oor identiteit binne hierdie films te bevraagteken en ontleed. Die tesis ondersoek die films asof dit ‘n literere werk is, en neem in ag die maniere waarop dit na hierdie kwessies kyk binne ‘n filmiese konteks. Daar word byvoorbeeld gekyk na watter simbole sy gebruik wanneer sy verwys na kulturele identiteit. Watter karakter is die simbool vir die modernistiese beweging, ens. Uitendelik bevraagteken die tesis the potensiële effek van hierdie films op die omgewing en omstandighede waaruit dit ontstaan het, en kom tot sekere gevolgtrekkings met betrekking tot die mate waarin hierdie films kwessies van tuiste, nostalgie, identiteit ens beinvloed en/of vorm en bevraagteken. Die besprekings dui daarop dat sy baie bevoeg is om al die voordele van haar verkose medium tesame met haar indrukwekkende visuele verbeelding te gebruik om aan ‘n internasionale gehoor die kwessies te kommunikeer en hul te dwing om aktief te dink oor die kwessies aan hand. Uiteindelik word die filmmaker Nair nie slegs as ‘n skepper van film beskryf nie, maar ook as ‘n denker en digter.

My research examines the interconnected histories of urbanism and urban development in port cities across South and Southeast Asia. Chapter one examines the effects of the third plague pandemic on the quotidian livelihoods and the built environments of the urban poor across Bombay, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Considering corporeal measures to inspect the bodies and homes of the urban poor and measures to introduce urban ‘improvement’ schemes, this chapter argues that plague sparked a sustained interest in the urban conditions of the poor across British South and Southeast Asia. Chapter two considers the works of the Bombay Improvement Trust, Rangoon Development Trust, and Singapore Improvement Trust through the early decades of the twentieth century and analyses how an imperial urbanism based on a ‘Bombay model’ translated to Singapore and other port cities across the Indian Ocean world. Chapter three considers the consequences of the second wave of ‘indirect’ attacks on urban slums on an evolving imperial urbanism in Bombay, Rangoon, and Singapore. While previous chapters examined the emergence of an imperial urbanism centred on Bombay’s example, chapter four considers the extent to which Bombay remained central to this urbanism during the late 1930s and Second World War. Analysing the divergent consequences of patterns of urban growth in Bombay, Hong Kong, and Singapore throughout the late-1930s, this chapter considers late-colonial efforts to house the urban poor as well as the extent to which the war recast the post-war housing situation. Chapter five contextualises post-war rhetoric of economic and urban development in Hong Kong and Singapore within narratives of pre-war urban ‘improvement’. In connecting pre-war and post-war approaches to accommodating the urban poor, the final chapter considers the reorientation of earlier circulations of knowledge around urban poverty in port cities and its implications for emerging post-colonial regional, national and urban identities.

abstract: The increased number of novel pathogens that potentially threaten the human population has motivated the development of mathematical and computational modeling approaches for forecasting epidemic impact and understanding key environmental characteristics that influence the spread of diseases. Yet, in the case that substantial uncertainty surrounds the transmission process during a rapidly developing infectious disease outbreak, complex mechanistic models may be too difficult to be calibrated quick enough for policy makers to make informed decisions. Simple phenomenological models that rely on a small number of parameters can provide an initial platform for assessing the epidemic trajectory, estimating the reproduction number and quantifying the disease burden from the early epidemic phase. Chapter 1 provides background information and motivation for infectious disease forecasting and outlines the rest of the thesis. In chapter 2, logistic patch models are used to assess and forecast the 2013-2015 West Africa Zaire ebolavirus epidemic. In particular, this chapter is concerned with comparing and contrasting the effects that spatial heterogeneity has on the forecasting performance of the cumulative infected case counts reported during the epidemic. In chapter 3, two simple phenomenological models inspired from population biology are used to assess the Research and Policy for Infectious Disease Dynamics (RAPIDD) Ebola Challenge; a simulated epidemic that generated 4 infectious disease scenarios. Because of the nature of the synthetically generated data, model predictions are compared to exact epidemiological quantities used in the simulation. In chapter 4, these models are applied to the 1904 Plague epidemic that occurred in Bombay. This chapter provides evidence that these simple models may be applicable to infectious diseases no matter the disease transmission mechanism. Chapter 5, uses the patch models from chapter 2 to explore how migration in the 1904 Plague epidemic changes the final epidemic size. The final chapter is an interdisciplinary project concerning within-host dynamics of cereal yellow dwarf virus-RPV, a plant pathogen from a virus group that infects over 150 grass species. Motivated by environmental nutrient enrichment due to anthropological activities, mathematical models are employed to investigate the relevance of resource competition to pathogen and host dynamics. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Applied Mathematics 2016

This thesis examines the representation of the lives and performances of tawa'if and rudali in South Asian cinema to understand their marginalization as performers, and their significance in the collective consciousness of the producers and consumers of Indian cultural artifacts. The critical textual analysis of six South Asian films reveals these women as caste-amorphous within the system of social stratification in India, and therefore captivating in the potential they present to achieve a complex and multi-faceted definition of culture. Qualitative interviews with 4 Indian classical dance instructors in Portland, Oregon and performative observations of dance events indicate the importance of these performers in perpetuating and developing Indian cultural artifacts, and illustrate the value of a multi-layered, performative methodological approach. These findings suggest that marginality in performance is a useful and dynamic site from which to investigate the processes of cultural communication, producing findings that augment sole textual analysis.