This thesis is a study of representations of disability in a selection of Anglophone Indian literature written between 1981 and 2006. In this thesis, I argue that, in fiction by Salman Rushdie, Rohinton Mistry, Indra Sinha, and Firdaus Kanga, disability often takes on positive symbolic value as it represents the potential for the postcolonial polis to survive and thrive, but that the ultimate death or medical normalisation of disabled characters in many of these narratives is tied to a loss of political optimism. While these texts in many instances disturb norms surrounding able-bodiedness and disability, they often ultimately narrate a pessimistic conformity to scripts of normalization, and in so doing, map the unjust triumph of a prescriptive national or international politics onto a prescriptive politics of the body. As disability is eliminated, so is the potential for resistance to latent colonial or hegemonic forms. On the other hand, those fictions that narrate a sustainable disabled presence suggest the potential for the community or nation to emerge from oppressive social structures unscathed. I focus on applying literary disability scholarship to Indian novels which demand scrutiny through a disability studies lens, given their dependence upon the disabled body as a metaphoric object and the continuities in their disability representation and the representation of history. While the focus of my work is upon the nuances of disability representation as it is used to parallel the rise (and sometimes fall) of political optimism in these examples of Anglophone Indian literature, I also read toward an understanding of how the postcolonial perspective of these fictions may inflect and complicate disability representations, and investigate Western notions of normalcy as they are represented as intruding upon this literature and as disciplining the body in these texts. This disciplining is further explored through an ancillary reading of how medical apparatus and infrastructure, such as hospitals, ambulances, and especially doctors, are represented in this group of novels, as it is often in conjunction with the medical establishment that disabled characters are subjected to (neo) colonial violence. In the first chapter, which takes the form of a critical introduction, I discuss the terms of my argument within the development of disability studies, and position myself within the debates and concerns of literary disability studies in particular. I consider the antecedents and development of what is now called the cultural model of disability, and discuss how literary disability scholarship, which began its development with a focus on Western texts and contexts, has begun to extend its range of inquiry to become global in scope. I consider examples of the interplay of contemporary Indian history with biopolitical ideals and the paradigm of normalcy as it has been articulated by Lennard Davis and his intellectual predecessors including Canguillheim and Foucault. In the second chapter, which is entitled "The Medical and the Monstrous: Disability in Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, Shame, and The Moor's Last Sigh," I consider how the disabled body is created as an object of competition in an ideological agon between a violent, globalized modernity and a sometimes-idealized fictive past. While Rushdie often represents the disabled body in a very simplified and rather bigoted register, he also to some extent engages with the more complex potentialities of disability to represent the failure of the state. The normalizing perpetration of a Westernized medical apparatus against disabled people becomes the proof and of political disintegration and the dissolution of hope for the emergent nation, whether in Rushdie's fictional version of India or Pakistan. In the third chapter, "Disability and the Realization of Metaphor in Rohinton Mistry's Such a Long Journey and A Fine Balance," I consider Rohinton Mistry's disability representations in relation to his engagement with the tradition of European realism. While Mistry attempts to re-locate the normal type articulated by the European novel, and subverts the conventions of European fiction even as he employs them, he still depends upon a largely uncontested tradition of disability representation. While he re-locates the norm in many demographic respects, he does not fully manage to rescue disability from an ancillary and symbolic role in the fiction. Mistry uses disabled characters symbolically to imagine political upheaval from a disadvantaged and sometimes from a subaltern position, creating in disabled characters their symbolic correlates. In my fourth chapter, "Collective Disability and the Dis-located Norm in Indra Sinha's Animal's People," I consider the ways in which this novel effaces paradigms of normalcy by imagining an environment in which disability is the unifying commonality of community life. While Mistry and Rushdie ultimately write disability as narrative anomaly in the ways described by Mitchell and Snyder, Sinha inverts the paradigm of the anomalous body in his fictional representation of the Bhopal disaster. The failure of the Indian state to protect its citizenry results in collective disability identification, while those able-bodied individuals who might be treated as normal in another fiction become suspicious outsiders. In my fifth chapter, "Unaccommodating Fictions: Disability, Authorship, and the Politics of Failure in Firdaus Kanga's Trying to Grow," I consider the ways in which gay, disabled, Parsi writer Firdaus Kanga represents failure and dependency as character weakness. Kanga validates neoliberal competition by re-imagining the potential for economic and social attainment as properties of mind at the exclusion of the body, and, in so doing, inaugurates an adaption of paradigms of normalcy. Kanga's imaginary valorises the economically competitive individual, but simply removes the constraint of bodily normalcy from this ideal marketable man. For Kanga, economic freedom from parental, societal, or governmental intervention is edifying, as masculinity is achieved through uninhibited competition. In my conclusion, "Good Doctors and Bad Doctors in Rushdie, Mistry, Sinha, and Kanga," I consider the representation of the clinic and of physicians in addition to the representation of disabled people in the novels included in this thesis. Doctors and medical apparatus become symbolic correlates for different political impositions and political strategies, often representing the abuses and failures of government or of public policy. I will frame my discussion within Foucault's concept of the clinic, and will consider the ways in which traditional and Western medicine take on symbolic meaning in these fictions of India.

No description available.

This research study explored how intercultural communication factors such as values and communication styles might affect the interaction between Tamil asylees and their U.S. social workers. For this qualitative study, I interviewed 11 Tamil asylees and conducted a focus group with 3 U.S. social workers at an agency serving the Tamil participants. Based on the findings of this research as well as the literature review, this thesis reveals culture-specific information about Tamil asylees and highlights the implications of the research to the fields of intercultural communication, refugee studies, and social work. Findings revealed the following: culture general assumptions overshadow the complexity of values and communication styles when examined in context, refugees are a unique immigrant population and therefore should be the focus of more intercultural research, competent social workers seem to possess culture-specific and general intercultural skills, and social workers can apply the methodology of this study to learn about the values and communication styles of new refugee clients.

This dissertation develops a history of experimental art emerging in India in the final decades of the twentieth century. It addresses the turn to video, performance and mixed-media installation – conceptually driven, circulation friendly, critical artistic modes – by artists who share a generational consciousness, shaped in part by their class position and metropolitan location. My arguments are constructed through a historical and formal analysis of significant transformations in the works of two Bombay-based artists, Nalini Malani (b. 1946) and Rummana Hussain (1952- 1999), between the mid-1980s and the early 2000s. This post-Emergency period is marked by the spectacle, symbolism and horror of the Babri Masjid demolition (December 1992) and numerous instances of targeted violence against minority communities (1984, 1992-93, 2002). The coinciding legislative passage of economic liberalization (1991) also had far-reaching implications, including a decline in state dominance over culture and artistic patronage. I contend that these dramatic shifts in the market, media and art institutional landscape catalyzed the development of postmodernist art practices. As artists like Malani and Hussain confronted the limitations and failings of their postcolonial, cosmopolitan imaginaries, their artistic responses were driven by the affective and reflexive tendencies of despair and melancholia, enlivening radical praxis in the face of derailments and lost causes. My work problematizes the notion of rupture that has often been deployed in discussions of these artist’s trajectories, referring to the transition from conventional formats of oil painting and sculpture towards expanded media experiments⁠. This study examines both specific shifts and underlying continuities in the formal and conceptual registers of the practices in question, while situating theoretical debates around postmodernism, feminism, periodization and artistic generation in the context of India.

Thesis advisors: Kevin Kopelson, Priya Kumar. Includes bibliographic references (p. 182-188).

No description available.

As plantas, assim como outros organismos, possuem a capacidade de se defenderem contra ataque de patógenos. Uma das respostas desencadeadas pelo reconhecimento do patógeno pelas células vegetais é a reação de hipersensibilidade (RH), que envolve a morte imediata das células do sítio primário de infecção, oferecendo resistência ao crescimento do patógeno. Muitas evidências sugerem a participação da mitocôndria neste processo de morte celular programa. O nim (Azadirachta indica) é conhecido devido as suas propriedades medicinais e inseticidas, sendo que os estudos sobre a ação inseticida dessa planta restringem-se a análise de seus mecanismos de ação sobre insetos e também de seus efeitos sobre trabalhadores rurais que fazem uso de produtos a base de nim. Entretanto não há na literatura pesquisada, trabalhos de seus impactos sobre o sistema vegetal. A partir dos resultados previamente obtidos em nosso laboratório e com as análises dos dados da literatura, consideramos de grande importância dar continuidade a esse estudo do efeito do nim como elicitor, avaliando quais mecanismos que levam ao fenômeno de resistência vegetal. O extrato de nim (EB) foi preparado a partir das sementes, sendo caracterizado bioquimicamente pela quantificação de compostos fenólicos, açúcares e proteínas. A atividade antioxidante foi avaliada sendo possível observar que o extrato das sementes de nim possui forte atividade antioxidante de maneira dose-dependente com IC50 de 14,85 mg/mL. Para os ensaios biológicos foi utilizado EB nas concentrações de 0,1 a 5 mg/mL isolado ou em associação com AS a 1 µmol/L ou 1 mmol/L. Para determinação da morte celular foi observado o efeito do EB nas concentrações de 5 e 0,1 mg/mL isolado ou em associação com AS 1 µmol/L nos tempos de 0 a 8 horas. Diante dos resultados foi observado que o EB na concentração de 0,1 mg/mL isolado ou em associação com AS 1 µmol/L foi capaz de causar morte celular em células de Rubus fruticosus de forma mais significativa do que o EB isolado ou em associação com AS na concentração de 5 mg/mL. No tempo de 8 horas, foi observado uma porcentagem de morte celular de 64 % para células elicitadas com EB 0,1 mg/mL isolado e 71 % para células elicitadas com EB 0,1 mg/mL em associação com AS. A diminuição da produção de EROs e da produção de AS endógeno bem como o aumento da produção de compostos fenólicos foi observado em células intactas elicitadas com EB isolado. No entanto quando a células foram elicitadas com EB em associação com AS observamos uma diminuição da produção de compostos fenólicos com o aumento da produção de AS endógeno. Em mitocôndrias isoladas foi avaliado o consumo de oxigênio, o potencial de membrana e a produção de EROs com o EB isolado e sua associação com AS 1 mmol/L. Foi observado que o EB isolado ou em associação com AS foi capaz de diminuir a velocidade de consumo de oxigênio pela cadeia respiratória sendo este efeito mais acentuado quando o nim foi administrado juntamente com AS, onde a porcentagem de inibição da velocidade de consumo de oxigênio pela cadeia respiratória na presença de EB em associação com AS foi de 79 % no estado 3 da respiração e 62 % no estado 4. Sobre o potencial de membrana observamos que o EB isolado ou em associação com AS foi capaz de diminuir o potencial de membrana, porém de forma pouco significativa. Para a produção de EROs observamos que o EB isolado foi capaz de diminuir a produção de EROs em mitocôndrias isoladas em cerca de 55 a 20 % na presença de antimicina A e 39 a 10 % na presença de rotenona, porém quando o EB foi administrado juntamente com AS observamos uma diminuição da produção de EROs somente para o EB nas concentrações de 0,5; 1 e 5 mg/mL. Com os resultados apresentados neste trabalho e os resultados obtidos anteriormente em nosso laboratório é possível sugerir que o extrato das sementes de nim possui um efeito protetor sobre células de Rubus fruticosus. / Plants, like other organisms, have the capacity to defend themselves against attack by pathogens. One of the responses triggered by pathogen recognition by plant cells is the hypersensitive response (HR), which involves the immediate death of cells in the primary site of infection, providing resistance to the pathogen growth. In this regard, it has been well established that mitochondria are involved in cell death. The neem tree (Azadirachta indica) is known due to its medicinal and insecticidal properties; studies on the insecticidal action of this plant had been restricted to the analysis of their action mechanisms on insects and their effects on rural workers who use neem-based products. However, its impact on plant systems has not been addressed. Considering previous results from our laboratory and literature data we assessed the effects of neem as elicitor, particularly the mechanisms leading to the phenomenon of plant resistance. The neem extract (EB) was prepared from the seeds, characterized biochemically by quantification of phenolic compounds, sugars and proteins. The extract showed strong dose-dependent antioxidant activity (IC50 of 14.85 mg/mL). EB concentrations of 0.1-5 mg/mL, alone or in association with 1 mol/L or 1 mmol/L SA (salicylic acid), were used for the biological assays. For cell death assays, EB was employed in concentrations of 0.1 and 5.0 mg/mL, alone or in association with 1 mol/L SA, during 0-8 hours. EB (0.1 mg/mL), alone or in association with 1 mol/L SA, induced Rubus fruticosus cell death more efficiently than EB alone or in association with 5 mg/mL SA. After 8 hours, a 64% of death of cells elicited with 0.1 mg/mL EB and 71% of death of cells elicited with 0.1 mg/mL EB in association with SA, was observed. Decrease in ROS generation and production of endogenous SA, as well as increased production of phenolic compounds, was observed in intact cells elicited with EB alone. However, when cells were elicited with EB in association with SA, a decreased production of phenolic compounds and an increased production of endogenous SA, was observed. In isolated mitochondria, it was measured oxygen consumption, membrane potential and ROS production for EB alone or in association with 1 mmol/L SA. In either conditions, EB decreased oxygen consumption by the respiratory chain, an effect more pronounced in association with SA: ~79 % inhibition for state 3 and ~ 62 % for state 4 respiration. Also, either neem alone or in association with SA decreased mitochondrial membrane potential, as well as ROS generation to an extent of 55-20% in the presence of antimycin A and 39-10% in the presence of rotenone; in association with SA, EB decreased ROS at 5, 1 and 0.5 mg/mL. Together with our previous study, these results suggest that neem seeds extract has a protective effect on Rubus fruticosus cells by scavenging, via phenolic compounds, reactive oxygen species generated by SA, thereby decreasing its action as cell death inducer.

Finally, I have tried to establish a causal connection between Oriya identity and the political process of Orissa during the period of study.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Wollongong, 2005. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: p. 351-380.

This doctoral thesis explores the entanglement of religion and identity politics in the Indo-Burma borderlands and the indigenisation of Christianity there through grassroots processes of cultural revivalism. The ethnographic focus is on the Sumi Naga from the state of Nagaland in Northeast India. While the Sumi started converting to Baptist Christianity at the beginning of the twentieth century, conversion rates accelerated especially in the 1950s and again in the 1970s when two evangelical revivals swept across the lands of the Sumi and resulted in their conversion en masse. Significantly, these Great Revivals coincided in time with the most turbulent political history of this borderland region, as the Sumi, alongside all other Naga, were waging an armed struggle against the Indian nation-state for their right to self-determination and independence. While this struggle is now largely being fought with political rather than military means, it remains ideologically motivated by Naga perceptions of their distinct ethnic identity, history and culture compared to the rest of India. Baptist Christianity has played a central role in shaping and sustaining these perceptions. Over the past several decades following the Second Great Revival in the 1970s there has been a movement from within Sumi society to reconstruct and redefine their identity by drawing heavily on both their contemporary religion (Baptist Christianity) and their 'good' pre-Christian culture, which had been demonised and rejected in the course of earlier conversions. Discourses have been circulating in public space on the urgent need to reconceptualise collective Sumi identity by reviving, or preserving, those aspects of pre-Christian Sumi culture that are perceived as 'good' and constitutive of Sumi-ness but are currently 'under threat' of being gradually lost to modernity and foreign influences. These discourses are directly linked to processes of cultural revivalism across Nagaland, which have been motivated by a sense of the perceived loss of 'good' cultural heritage and cultural roots. This thesis is an ethnographic study of these processes of identity (re)construction within a Sumi Naga community. It sets out to examine the ways in which Baptist Christianity is central to everyday life in a Sumi village and how it plays an important role in forging group cohesion and solidarity through ritual practice and various forms of fellowship. The thesis then proceeds to study the phenomenon of cultural revivalism in both its discursive and practical manifestations. The thesis argues that the cultural revival has not reduced the centrality of Baptist Christianity to Sumi self-ascriptions and perceptions of identity, but is rather thought to have enriched it and given it a stronger cultural foundation. Hence, a Sumi Naga Christianity is being created which is perceived as unique, indigenous and distinct in its own right. The thesis attempts to explore the essence of this vernacular Christianity against the backdrop of its specific historical, economic, political and spiritual context and the all-encompassing Naga struggle against the Indian nation-state. In pursuing these issues, the thesis locates itself within debates on the intersection between religion and identity politics, which prevail in many contemporary contributions to the anthropology of Christianity.