The village has been the significant social unit on the Indian subcontinent for thousands of years. To maintain its integrity it has developed a set of interlocking structures, some of which are unique to the subcontinent, which are very resistant to change. The Indian national government passed legislation which provided for the formation of new structures of political allocation without providing the basis of support for changing the other related structures existing within the village. This thesis attempts to show why this particular change, advocated by the state and national governments, failed. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

This study chronicles a non-modern pedagogical tradition, Indo-Tibetan (Gelugpa) Buddhist education, as it negotiates a modern, global context in exile in India. As an enlightenment tradition, Buddhism emphasizes investigative inquiry over scriptural orthodoxy and belief, making it compatible with some aspects of modern, secular culture. This is a study of the relationship between these two educational cultures within one educational institution—Dolma Ling Nunnery and Institute of Dialectics in the Indian Himalayas. The text itself is arranged in the form of a mandala, which is divided into five sections or stages of learning: intention, path, inference, experience, and realization. The intention section highlights the value of cultural and educational diversity, and includes a brief synopsis of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist educational history. The path section describes specific Buddhist approaches to ethnography and social research. The inference chapter is the empirical (ethnographic) component of the study, and considers the practice of dialectical debate as a case of what Wittgenstein called a "language game." This chapter includes photographic documentation and the text of a public (Western-style) debate held at Dolma Ling on the subject of the merits of their traditional debate system. The experience chapter considers the unique role of direct perception (experience) in Buddhism, and how it can be educated through combined meditational and testimonial practices. The author explores the tendency to segregate experiential from rational paths, especially when liminal experiences of suffering, bliss, and death are involved. She concludes that such experiences strain our powers of reason and, in some cases, representation, resulting in a tendency to marginalize such experiences within formal, rational education systems and their knowledge bases. Narrative, poetic, and direct experiential methods of meditation are better suited to deal with these subjects. The "realization" chapter discusses conceptions of realization, praxis and embodiment, that is, rational inferences translated into direct experience and action, as of particular relevance to educators. In the Buddhist view, such realizations are the desired end of all inquiry. This end is accomplished through creative and direct "conversations" (testimonies, dialogues) between reason and direct experience on the path of learning. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

The dissertation will address the ongoing debate in Comparative Politics about the virtues and pathologies of rational choice theory by testing competing hypotheses and predictions to account for three aspects of party politics in India: the transformation of the Indian political party system from a predominant to an even multiparty system; the politics of government formation; and the politics of government stability. Overall, the dissertation will pursue two arguments. First, rational choice models and predictions can account for the empirical cases more consistently than hypotheses and predictions derived from other paradigms. Second, by using India as the case on which to test competing theories, it will be shown that non-Western political phenomena are not sui generis and they may be accounted for in terms of comparative theory the same way as Western phenomena have been. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

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The following work is a humble probe into the background and history of the Dalit Pentecostal churches and critically evaluates the mission methods of Robert F. Cook. The word Dalit means the oppressed or broken victims and refers to people who are deprived and dehumanized. In India the so-called outcastes or untouchables have recently taken the name Dalit. The modern usage of Dalit began in nineteenth century with Mahatma Jyotirao Phule (1825-1890), a Marathi social reformer who worked for the upliftment of oppressed class. The Harijans, Backward classes, Scheduled castes, Outcastes, Untouchables, Panchamas and Chandalas were known by the common name Dalilt. Since the inception of the Pentecostal movement, the Dalits have formed an integral part of the Pentecostal churches. From the very beginning the Pentecostal church in Kerala attracted members from the Dalit communities. This was from the time of Robert. F. Cook (1914). Through Robert F. Cook's ministry the Dalits accepted Pentecostalism and gained liberation from their oppression. This is the first attempt to trace the history of Dalit Pentecostals in Kerala. However the readers will find a description of the beginnings and the characteristics of Pentecostalism that attracted the marginalized to Pentecostalism, and provided them with a liberative force. An evaluation of the origin and development of the Dalit Pentecostal churches is essential for the self-understanding of the community of believers and for the articulation of its mission in the world. I hope that the reading of this thesis will open the present day Pentecostals to restore the early characteristics of the movement so that it will challenge social evils that Pentecostalism once did so ably. / Thesis (M.Th.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.

Objectives and Research Questions 1. To reconstruct the history of invasion of Lantana in India from where, by who, and when was Lantana species introduced into India?, given its long history in the country, is it still spreading or has it become more or less stable? 2. To study the human adaptation to Lantana invasion: socioeconomic causes and consequences of the use of Lantana as an alternative source of livelihood for forest dependent communities in southern India; how have local communities adapted to the invasion?; what are the key determinants that may have driven communities to use Lantana?; what are the economic consequences of the use of Lantana by local communities? 3. To critically review local practices and forest policy for the management of Lantana in southern India.; how has the use of Lantana by local communities impacted its local regeneration?; does the use of Lantana in local context have implications for its management?; what has been the role of the Forest Department and its policies in managing Lantana?

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