This thesis presents the first extended ethnographic account of a popular professional theatrical form and life-style—the jatra of West Bengal, India. The research material presented and analysed was collected from 1970-1972 in West Bengal and the immediately surrounding states of Assam, Orissa and Bihar. The cognitive universe of the jatra jagat (world), the cultural practice of the jatra business, and the interactional constraints operating among the various categories of people within the jatra profession, are described and interpreted. In addition, this thesis presents the first systematically and anthropologically annotated translation of a popularly performed jatra play, Pariah Paiser Pvithibi (The World for F-ive Paisa). The central point of the thesis revolves around an interpretation of the concerns of the professional jatra business—an aesthetic business, the business of cultural performance. The argument is that this performance form, from its asserted putative origin, has been a critical and self-reflective commentary on Bengali social and cultural life. The jatra is inextricably bound within the existential and cultural dilemmas of Bengali life, dilemmas and contradictions that traditionally were resolved at both metaphysical and practical levels. Now that the jatra is embedded within a capitalist business world, critical commentaries and revolutionary desires remain unresolved within the profession itself. In spite of this, the jatra remains critical of both itself and Bengali social and cultural life, embedded as it is in the current context of feared and despised Western cultural imperialism and internal domination. The anthropological interpretation and analysis presented in the thesis is informed from a number of sources; the views expressed by people within the jatra world, the work in anthropology that currently goes under the heading of 'symbolic anthropology', critical theory and literary criticism, and semiotics. With these points of view in mind, the thesis presents an analysis of the jatra advertising system, the jatra performance system, and a larger peripatetic performance system, as well as a statement about the interpretation of meaning in Bengali life. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Unknown

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2009. / "Graduate Program in Anthropology." Includes bibliographical references (p. 252-258).

The aim of this thesis is to explain the existence and coexistence of diverse hired labour arrangements in two contrasting localities in rural West Bengal (India). Hired labour arrangements for seasonal migrants are included in the analysis, the methods for which are drawn from a review of the contractual arrangements literature. One study locality, in Bardhaman District, was characterised by double-cropping of paddy facilitated by groundwater irrigation, the other, in Purulia District, by rainfed paddy cultivation. The structure of landownership was skewed - more so in the Bardhaman locality. Daily employment records were kept by ninety-two sampled households over two seasons. In each locality six different indigenous types of hired labour arrangement were identified. Analysis of the rationales for the existence and coexistence of these labour arrangements and of the variation within each type confirmed the embeddedness of the terms and conditions of labour hire (including those for migrant labour) in the land-holding structure, in ideologies of gender and caste, and in party political allegiances. Possibilities for and constraints on hiring out labour in particular arrangements are explained in part by the logic of deployment of household labour to unwaged reproductive and productive work, which is also socially embedded in the same way. The thesis thus sets a new agenda for research. It questions the received wisdom on rural labour exchange in India: i) that villages tend to have just one wage rate for 'casual' labour determined by supply and demand alone, ii) that stylised labour arrangements (eg 'casual' and 'attached') are appropriate occupational classifications for individuals and households, and iii) that rural labour is immobile. If the coexistence of diverse labour arrangements is to be explained, more, careful microstudies are required, so that a typology of socio-economic, political and agro-ecological contexts can be developed.

Univ., Master's thesis--Lund, 2008.

Natural attenuation of trichloroethene (TCE) and technetium (99Tc) was studied for five consecutive seasons (from January 2002 to January 2003) in Little Bayou Creek. The stream receives ground water discharge from an aquifer contaminated by past waste disposal activities at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP), a uranium enrichment facility near Paducah, Kentucky. Results from stream gaging, contaminant monitoring, tracer tests (with bromide, nitrate, rhodamine WT and propane) and simulation modeling indicate the TCE is naturally attenuated by volatilization and dilution, with volatilization rates related to the ambient temperature and surface discharge rate. The only apparent mechanism of 99Tc attenuation is dilution. Travel times of non-gaseous tracers were found to be similar and have highest values in October and lowest in June. It was also estimated from modeling that the transport of the solutes in the stream was mostly one-dimensional with insignificant secondary storage.

No description available.

Kabir, Nujaba Binte. / "November 2009." / "Architecture Department, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Master of Architecture Programme 2008-2009, design report"--Leaf preceding t.p. / Thesis (M.Arch.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-76). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / ABSTRUCT --- p.i / 摘要 --- p.iii / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT --- p.iv / TABLE OF CONTENT --- p.V / LIST OF FIGURES --- p.vii / INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter PART I. --- HISTORY OF SULTANATE MOSQUES ARCHITECTURE IN BENGAL & SHAPE GRAMMAR ANALYSIS. / Chapter Chapter 01. --- History and Origins of Sultanate Mosques --- p.9 / Chapter 1.1 --- Historical context --- p.9 / Chapter 1.2 --- The Geographical & climatic context --- p.10 / Chapter 1.3 --- Origins of Bengal mosque architecture --- p.11 / Chapter 1.4 --- Pre-Muslim architectural traditions of Bengal --- p.14 / Chapter 1.5 --- The common characteristics of the Sultanate mosque --- p.15 / Chapter Chapter 02. --- Shape Grammar: Analysis of Style and Grammar Interpreter. --- p.19 / Chapter 2.1 --- Analysis of style --- p.19 / Chapter 2.2 --- Generative application --- p.21 / Chapter PART II. --- DEVELOPMENT OF THE GRAMMAR FOR SULTANATE MOSQUES. / Chapter Chapter 03. --- The Style of the Corpus of Sultanate Mosques and the Features Require Developing the Grammar. --- p.24 / Chapter 3.1 --- The corpus of the Sultanate V Mosques in Bengal --- p.24 / Chapter 3.2 --- Examining the corpus of the Sultanate Mosques in Bengal --- p.29 / Chapter 3.3 --- Features Require Developing the Grammar --- p.30 / Chapter 3.4 --- The Grammar --- p.39 / Chapter Chapter 04. --- The Vocabulary of the Sultanate Mosques. --- p.41 / Chapter 4.1 --- Vocabulary elements --- p.41 / Chapter 4.2 --- The formation of the grammar --- p.43 / Chapter Chapter 05. --- Stage 1: Generation of the Starting Unit --- p.47 / Chapter 5.1 --- Concept --- p.47 / Chapter 5.2 --- The algorithm --- p.48 / Chapter 5.3 --- Result and discussion --- p.51 / Chapter Chapter 06. --- Stage 2: Formatting the Grids and Forming the Columns --- p.53 / Chapter 6.1 --- Concept --- p.53 / Chapter 6.2 --- The algorithm --- p.54 / Chapter 6.3 --- Result and discussion --- p.56 / Chapter Chapter 07. --- Stage 3: Formatting the Walls around the Complete Grid. --- p.58 / Chapter 7.1 --- Concept --- p.58 / Chapter 7.2 --- The algorithm --- p.58 / Chapter 7.3 --- Result and discussion --- p.61 / Chapter Chapter 08. --- Stage 4: Locating the Corner Towers and the Openings on the Walls --- p.62 / Chapter 8.1 --- Concept --- p.62 / Chapter 8.2 --- The algorithm --- p.63 / Chapter 8.3 --- Result and discussion --- p.66 / Chapter Chapter 09. --- The Language of Designs --- p.68 / CONCLUSION --- p.72 / REFERENCES --- p.75 / APPENDIX --- p.78

Master of Science / Department of Geology / Saugata Datta / More than 75 million people in the Bengal Delta of eastern India and Bangladesh are exposed to drinking water with dangerously high arsenic (As) concentrations; the worst case of environmental poisoning in human history. Despite recognition of dangers posed to chronic exposure to drinking water with elevated As, its biogeochemical cycle is inadequately constrained in groundwater flow systems due to its complex redox chemistry and microbially-mediated transformations. Arsenic concentrations in Bengal Delta sediments are comparable to global averages, but its highly heterogeneous spatial distribution (on scales of meters to kilometers) in sediments and groundwaters is poorly understood. Though many research efforts have targeted understanding this heterogeneity in Bangladesh, less work has been done in eastern India. Murshidabad (23°56.355‘N, 88°16.156‘E), an eastern district in West Bengal, India, where groundwaters are highly As-affected (~4000 μg/l), was chosen as our study area. Research objectives were: (1) characterize sediment cores (mineralogically, geochemically) and groundwaters (hydrochemically, isotopically) in areas with contrasting As concentrations—west (low-As) and east (high-As) of river Bhagirathi, a major distributary of Ganges flowing through the heart of Murshidabad; (2) describe and understand the extent of spatial variability, laterally and vertically, of dissolved As concentrations in shallow (< 60 m) aquifers, comparing sediment core chemistry to water chemistry; (3) identify source(s) of aquifer recharge and (4) role(s) of inorganic carbon within the aquifer to understand the bioavailability and mobilization of As from sediments to groundwaters. Mineralogical differences between high-As (grey) and low-As (orange-brown) sediments, were the presence of greater amounts of micas, Fe- and Mg-rich clays, amphiboles, carbonates, and apatite in high-As sediments; these were virtually absent from low-As sediments. In high-As areas, As was associated with amorphous and poorly-crystalline Fe-oxyhydroxide phases and labile (specifically-sorbed) phases, especially where Fe(II):Fe[subscript]T was high in the sediments. High-As groundwaters had high As(III):As[subscript]T, iron, bicarbonate, phosphate, and ammonium, and low concentrations of chloride and sulfate. Dry season precipitation was probably the main source of aquifer recharge; lighter values of [superscript]13C in dissolved inorganic carbon resulted from oxidation of natural organic matter. This study points to an idea that both microbially-mediated oxidation-reduction and competitive ion-exchange processes occurring in shallow aquifers of Murshidabad drive As mobilization and sequestration by aquifer sediments.

Journeying to sacred places is an ancient yet contemporarily popular tradition in the Hindu society of India. At the outset of this thesis, the philosophical foundations and general patterns of pilgrimage practice in West Bengal, India, where fieldwork was conducted, are discussed. Case studies of three West Bengali pilgrimage centres — Tarakeswar, Navadvip and Tarapith, which are Śaiva, Vaiṣṇava and Śākta sacred places, respectively — reveal the considerable diversity in the regional pilgrimage tradition. In analysing each of these centres, ethnographic data on the social and economic organisation of specialised religious places, roles of sacred specialists, beliefs regarding the deities, patterns of ritual, and social characteristics and behaviour of pilgrims are presented. The literature on pilgrimage is reviewed in search of theoretical tools for the task of generalising about pilgrimage, inclusive of the evident diversity. Analysis and criticism of existing theories indicates that analysts have focused on limited aspects of pilgrimage practice which conform to disciplinary boundaries rather than seeking the patterned consistencies which define the full institution. Comparison of the three case studies reveals that the variation in religious patterns in the centres relates to wider traditions of religious culture in Bengal: the several strands of pilgrimage tradition generally replicate the sub-traditions of Bengali Hinduism and patterns of belief and practice in any sacred place are closely associated with the religious tradition of the regional cult which dominates that centre. It is possible, however, to identify two levels at which the diversity of the pilgrimage institution is founded in systematic conceptual unity. Both levels concern the meaning of pilgrimage within prevalent patterns of Bengali Hinduism. The explicit meaning of pilgrimage in the conscious thought of participants emphasises the journey to the deity's terrestrial abode in search of interaction with the divine. Implicit within this patterned behaviour are important Hindu metaphysical concepts — the implicit ideology of pilgrimage — which invest pilgrimage with meaning derived from abstract Hindu religious thought.

Doctoral dissertation. / Format: PDF. Bibl.