Thesis (M.S.)--Florida State University, 2006. / Advisor: James Cobbe, Florida State University, College of Social Sciences, Program in International Affairs. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed June 7, 2006). Document formatted into pages; contains x, 70 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

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This thesis theologises with the contemporary devadāsīs of South India, focusing in particular on the Dalit girls who from childhood have been dedicated to the goddess Mathamma and used as village sex workers. Firstly, chapters one and two situate the context for theologising by outlining the discriminatory practice of caste and the place of the Dalits, noting in particular the plight of Dalit women. From here it explores the socioreligious identities of the contemporary devadāsīs that have been transformed and degraded as a result of a multitude of hegemonies, to the extent that the existential narratives of the contemporary devadāsīs are shaped by sexual violence, caste and gender discrimination, local village religiosity and sex work. And it is based upon such narratives that this research contemplates God. Chapter three suggests that there exists a lacuna in Indian Christian Theology and Dalit Liberation Theology for the voices and experiences of the most marginalised of Dalit women, in particular those whose narratives would be deemed “indecent”. In response, inspired by the Indecent Theology of Marcella Althaus- Reid, it suggests that in order to be truly identity-specific and liberating to the most marginalised of Dalit women, Dalit Liberation Theology must be born out of the sexual narratives of the oppressed. Chapter four therefore uses an Indecent Dalit feminist hermeneutic to re-read the narratives of the “harlots,” “concubines,” and “whores” of Scripture alongside the lived experiences of the Dalit sacred “prostitutes.” It does so in the hope of challenging patriarchal hegemonic Dalit Christian theologising that portrays the ‘decent' woman as godly, to the detriment of those who transgress heteronormative sexual moral orders. The final chapter goes on to further challenge Dalit Theology to discover the Dalit Christ in the context of the dedicated women – where we encounter a lived religiosity, that is shaped by religious hybridity, goddess worship and the Christ who has become a Dalit devi.

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The international campaign for housing rights focuses on the process of legislative change. Critics of the legislative change approach argue that this process is elitist insofar as such campaigns are fought on behalf of those people denied the right to housing by academics, lawyers and international non-governmental agencies, instead of in conjunction with the people. This approach, it is argued, excludes the people themselves from defining what housing rights mean to them, their culture and their community standards, placing such decisions in courts of law and legislatures. It is the position of this study that a more effective approach in the struggle for housing rights is one that recognizes that the problems of the poor and disenfranchized are not just their lack of rights per se, but also their lack of power to demand the legislative recognition and enforcement of those rights. This study explores a more inclusive approach to the housing rights struggle wherein the achievement of legislative rights represents only one peg in a more holistic strategy for change. This approach is represented by the theory and practice of Community Development — a process which empowers people to work collectively for change. Community Development provides the tools for people to understand, define and demand their rights, thus providing a bottom up and sustainable strategy in the struggle for housing rights. Community Development does not reject the role of legislative change, nor the responsibility of the state to recognize and enforce housing rights among its citizenry, but enhances the process to include all dimensions of the the housing struggle, most notably the community based sector which is currently excluded from the legislative change approach. The viability of a Community Development approach is built upon the premise that rights are norms or standards determined by the shared values of society and influenced by the dominant ideology. If people can articulate their values as well as organize to demand from the state the recognition and enforcement of their values, then they can work for change and begin to shape their housing rights. An indigenous non-governmental organisation using the methods of Community Development in the struggle for housing rights is the Society for the Promotion of Area Resources (SPARC). The work of SPARC focuses on a group of women pavement dwellers in Bombay India. In SPARC'S analysis, it is women who bear the brunt of poverty, yet are vested with virtually no powers of decision-making within (or outside) the family. SPARC uses the methods of Community Development to empower these women to demand the recognition and enforcement of their housing rights. Their work has resulted in such manifest outcomes as: challenging the Bombay Municipal Council in a court of law, building prototype houses, establishing a credit co-operative, undertaking a people's census and the creation of Mahila Milan — a community based organisation run entirely by the women themselves. Other latent, less measurable outcomes have also resulted from their work such as confidence building and solidarity among the women. SPARC'S use of Community Development methods on the streets of Bombay has important lessons for the international struggle for housing rights. Incorporating the community based sector in the struggle ensures that the process of defining and demanding housing rights remains democratic, culturally sensitive and sustainable. Community Development can be effectively facilitated by an indigenous non-governmental organisation which can gain the trust of the community and understand local customs, cultures, language and history. Essentially the debate over the right to housing comes down to a set of ethical questions, the answers to which form the philosophical and moral framework for the policy decisions that face a society. A Community Development approach ensures that all people have a voice in answering these questions and influencing the decisions that affect their lives, their housing and indeed their rights. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the psycho-cultural dynamics of the interaction between the British community in India in the 19th century and the class of Indians educated in the English school system both in terms of the stress the encounter placed upon individuals of both cultural communities and the response initiated thereby. Although the emphasis of the study is on the impact of Western values and attitudes it is recognized that the source of psychological stress for Indians was the response of the British to the stress of contact with an alien culture. The cultural change induced by the British in India focused upon the Hindu religion, requiring a deep rearrangement of cultural values, motivations and their corresponding institutional structures. But it is seen that this kind of change is not easily accomplished. Indians could not reject their own cultural values and accept the alien ones without destroying their sense of identity which, being derived from the Hindu religion, was incompatible with the value system of the West. Though intellectually they identified with some values and ideas of the West, emotionally and socially they were tied to the culture patterns of traditional Hinduism. This conflict caused some Indians to experience a crisis of identity. In this thesis identity is defined as a function of religion. The religious system of a culture forms the matrix of all cultural values, beliefs, attitudes, and the sense of identity and serves as the organizing, integrating, and stabilizing principle of the social system and the personality. A crisis of identity becomes for the individual a crisis of belief. This was what occurred when the cultural values and beliefs of the Hindus were challenged by the alternate value system of the British which, when defined by the racist ideology and the colonial relationship, destroyed the sense of security and integrity of the native personality. British cultural attitudes are discussed in terms of the changing images of India and of Indians in the 19th century and interpreted in the context of the ideologies that inspired them. It is observed that the images of 19th century Indian culture are uniformly condemning but that the images of India's past and future vary according to the ideological stance of the image makers. The cultural attitude which prevailed throughout most of the century was one of intolerance stemming from the belief in the superiority of the British culture. This attitude created an atmosphere of cultural polarity and manifested itself in an invidious comparison between the two cultural groups. A framework is established for interpreting the Indian response to the impact of British cultural attitudes or, rather, to the crisis of identity and the loss of self-respect that the impact produced. The response was basically a defensive one. It involved a search for a new cultural identity which would relieve the stress of commitment to opposing value systems by effecting a compromise. Indians attempted this realignment via cultural historiography or cultural classicism, a process whereby they interjected 19th century Western values into their own cultural past thereby making those values seem generic to their tradition. Historiography "proved" that present (19th century) moribund values represented a deviation from the true values of the Hindu religion. This interpretive act rendered adjustment to and acceptance of change easier. It produced a cultural identity compatible with the experience of the contemporary Indian and provided a framework for the interpretation of traditional Hinduism according to the 19th century world view. The reinterpretive schemes of Raja Rammohun Roy and Swami Vivekānanda are used to illustrate the Indian response. Their images of India and of Indians are contained in the "myths" of the Indian Golden Age and Indian spirituality which were calculated to regenerate India and Indians to a position of dignity and equality in a world culture. / Arts, Faculty of / Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies, Department of / Graduate

This thesis explores the use of collective memory in the practice of landscape architecture, specifically the use of 'memory mapping' as an imaging technique. The specific site chosen is Shaniwarwada, a fortified royal complex dating from the eighteenth century, in the city of Pune, India. In order to gain an insider's perspective of the site, written questionnaires were distributed and interviews were given. The findings of these inquiries coupled with an understanding of contemporary theories concerning memory mapping guided the development of programs and physical interventions. It is hoped that these undertakings will enhance the role of Shaniwarwada as an historical site and a community place in the future. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of / Graduate

Earlier research has claimed that the British officer corps did not go through professionalization until the emergence of institutionalized education for military officers in the 19th century. This study argues that British officers in service of the East India Company in India showed signs of professionalization before 1800, contrary to earlier claims. The theoretical framework is composed in many respects by opposite roles of the officer, representing the pre-paradigm ideal of “the fighting man” and the post-paradigm role of the professional and bureaucrat. By processing letters, official documents and accounts on armed conflicts in India using digital methods, verbs performed by military officers have been extracted, categorized and analysed to find patterns in their actions. From these patterns conclusions have been drawn about the different roles of the officer, and how they relate to officers as fighting men as well as professionals. The results show that officers had roles regarding movement, employment, subordination, independence, non-military roles regarding military law and diplomacy, being gentlemen, advancement, skill and showed significant indications of the a priori roles of fighting men, bureaucrats and professionals.

With an annual growth of almost 20% since the year 2000, Indian merchandise exports exceeded 300 billion U.S. dollars in 2012. The country is becoming a major supplier to the world. However, companies sourcing products and operating in India are experiencing a variety of supply chain disruptions that impede their operations and finances. The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the frequency, impact and severity of supply chain risks experienced by companies in India, as well as assess the usefulness of mitigation methods and enquire about future expected disruptions. It is hoped that the results will prepare managers to better prioritize their supply chain risk management efforts and investments. The scope of this study is upstream (sourcing and operations) disruptions that affected Indian supply chains over the past three years, including the areas of logistics and transportation. The methodology is a quantitative, empirical study, using a survey instrument in the form of a questionnaire distributed electronically to thousands of members of four prominent trade associations in India. The platform for the questionnaire is a modification of a traditional risk analysis progression: mapping, identifying, assessing, mitigating and improving, also dubbed "MIAMI". The main findings are that there are major and significant differences in severity (frequency and impact) between the thirteen risk categories presented. There are also significant group differences among the respondents. Traditional mitigation methods differ with respect to usefulness, and expected risks are somewhat different than past risks. Conclusions reached are that chronic risks such as inadequate transportation, logistics and utilities infrastructure, supplier and labor problems, and bureaucracy/red tape are more severe than highly publicized and visible risks such as natural disasters, terrorism and crime. Traditional mitigation methods are useful for many of the disruptions, but ineffective for non-physical risks. There is a certain optimism with respect to future infrastructure related disruptions. Limitations of the study include a relatively low response rate, the classic difficulty in risk analysis of comparing and scaling the impact of disruptions, and that it is not fine grained enough to fully describe any specific industry sectors. This study contributes to the field of supply chain risk management by adding crucial empirical information from a heretofore unexplored market.