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Ethnoarchaeological research of indigenous iron-working in Africa and, more recently, in parts of Asia, has attempted to interpret past technology through the lives and memories of blacksmiths and smelters. In India, recent archaeological and historical research of iron-working and other forms of craft production has examined the social position of specialized craft producers within regional caste-structures. This thesis incorporates both these approaches to study traditional iron-working communities in northern Telangana, a region in south-central India. Anthropological theories of craft production and power are employed to provide a nuanced interpretation of the archaeometallurgical and ethnographic data from the study area. Medieval travelogues and colonial documents attest the presence of a thriving preindustrial iron and crucible steel-manufacturing tradition in northern Telangana. Initial archaeological and historical investigations in the region by Lowe (1989) and Jaikishan (2009) identified a significant number of sites related to early iron and crucible steel production. The Pioneering Metallurgy project of 2010 (Juleff et al., 2011) surveyed within the four districts of northern Telangana to investigate the origin and development of these technologies. Besides locating and recording archaeometallurgical evidence, the project also conducted ethno-metallurgical enquiries to record the members of rural blacksmith communities at work. This highlighted the potential for an in-depth ethnoarchaeological study to understand the socio-cultural context of these indigenous technologies by unraveling the lives of the descendants of iron-smelters and steelmakers of northern Telangana. This was the starting point of the present research project. My research investigates a dynamic set of relationships between craft, people and space—physical and social. The ethnographic data for this research is collected through 63 formal and numerous informal interactions with the iron-workers of the region. These interactions and other collected data are presented in appendices. The lives of five practitioners with different specialized skills provide the entry point into this research which is presented in two-parts. After setting the background, Part A investigates the intricate relationship between indigenous smelting technologies, smelters and place. Based on interactions with older members of the Mudda Kammari (smelter) community, this study attempts to reconstruct the practices of iron-smelting from their individual and collective memory. Where possible, elderly smelters led me to the rivulets where ore was mined and showed the surviving pits for preparing charcoal, while explaining technological details. The spatial locations of these were recorded and analyzed in relation to the smelting sites and present habitations of the Mudda Kammari (smelter) communities. Apart from technological detail, their memory also provided insight into the social and economic networks in which indigenous iron-smelting operated. The demise of indigenous iron-smelting in the first half of 20th century compelled the Mudda Kammari to adopt blacksmithing on a full-time basis. As a result they lost their distinct smelter-identity. A host of specialist iron-working groups like the scissors-smiths, sword-smiths and firearm makers in the area also lost their specialized skills and distinct identities faced with competition from industrial products and government prohibition onthe domestic weapon manufacturing industries from the 1950s. All of these groups were obliged to take up manufacturing agricultural products, and therefore, became homogenized as Kammari (blacksmiths). Lopsided agrarian development, marketization of harvests and recent mechanization of agriculture have ruptured the traditional relations of exchange between the Kammari and the agrarian community. This has significantly reduced the demand for their services, and resulted in displacement of their craft and lives. Consequently, the identity and position that the Kammari enjoyed in rural social space and reinforced through cult performance has degenerated. This led to a further homogenization of artisan identities, supported by a new eclectic identity narrative, which replaced the older, individual craft-community focused identities. Part B of this research deals with this homogenization process in detail. It interrogates the relationship between the decline in craft and the evolution of artisan identity. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and archival studies, this section examines how identities of ironworking communities in northern Telangana are reconstituted and articulated over time with the enfeeblement of their craft. In the final section of the thesis I bring the diverse data together to form a nuanced understanding of the social, cultural and economic context of iron working in northern Telangana. Based on the complexity of iron-worker identity in northern Telangana, this section cautions against drawing straightforward ethnographic analogies to study the archaeological record. I conclude by proposing how this research can benefit future ethnoarchaeological research of craft production and in studying traditional craft and craftsmen in a growing market economy.

This article is a case study of the People’s Archive of Rural India, a multimedia digital archive founded by journalist P. Sainath, which debuted online in December 2014. PARI features photographs, videos, interviews, audio files and articles that seek to illuminate the lives of the over 833 million people who live in rural India. Focusing on the narrative form of the ‘story’ and the universalizing temporality of the ‘everyday’, the article asks, ‘What is the relationship between PARI’s rural India and the “New” India to which it ostensibly belongs? How do PARI’s textual and visual mediations work together to produce the rural as a region?’. The article explores the relevance of postcolonial theory for the study of cultural production in the time of ‘New’ India, while arguing that PARI offers a Janus-faced depiction of the rural as urban India’s historically entrenched Other, on the one hand, and as a critical outside to the neo-liberal imagination, on the other.

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The study of possession phenomena in South Asia presents a unique set of challenges for scholars. Because of its occurrence within diverse contexts, from healing temples and ritual performances to festival celebrations and devotional practices, attempts on the part of scholars to hone in on a concise vocabulary and conceptual framework with which to articulate the critical nature and function of possession has resulted in an extensive body of literature with wide-ranging methodological and theoretical dispositions. Each of these approaches, in its own way, contributes to an increasingly complicated web of intersecting disciplinary approaches. As this body of literature continues to grow, and with it, the resources for generating a more productive academic discourse surrounding possession, so too grows a set of distinct challenges. How is one to sort through the maze of interpretive strategies and the conclusions they produce? Is it possible to assemble them in such a way as to develop a cooperative and mutually beneficial approach? Is there hope for arriving at a commonly shared vocabulary of possession capable of functioning across disciplinary boundaries? And if so, would such a vocabulary avoid forcing localized experiences and practices to conform to ill-fitting, non-native criteria of analysis? Through critical evaluation of ethnographic contributions to the study of possession, this paper sets out to arrive at a set of conclusions about what works best for furthering the depth of appreciation and understanding for how diverse, complex, and pervasive possession practices are within a South Asian context. My criteria for this evaluation focuses on the degree to which specific approaches are established in, and guided by, an ethos of inclusivity, one that develops a healthy and vibrant dialectic between indigenous models of experience, practice, and interpretation, and those of the scholar. Along the way, I investigate key issues raised in the study of possession, such as ritual efficacy, embodiment, agency, and the nature of human relations with various nonhuman beings.

Yes

<p>Research statement:</p> <p>To investigate the age specific blood pressure change in South Asian children from childhood to adolescence over a six year period and to determine whether this change of blood pressure varies by baseline characteristics.</p> <p>Rationale:</p> <p>Children exhibit age related incremental changes in blood pressure from birth onwards which reach adult levels during late adolescence. The best way to measure age-related changes in blood pressure from childhood to adolescence is through prospective longitudinal studies.</p> <p>Objectives:</p> <p>to investigate the changes in blood pressure among South Asian children aged 6 to 11 years who were followed for a period of six years.</p> <p>Methods:</p> <p>Blood pressure and anthropometric data were collected from 703 children who were 5 to 11 years of age in 2005 and were re-examined after six years (age range of 11 to 17 years in 2011). Average difference between baseline and follow-up blood pressure measurements was evaluated using the paired t-test. A linear regression model with follow up blood pressure and blood pressure change as outcomes and sex, weight, and height as regressors were fitted to assess whether these predictor variables were associated with the dependent variables.</p> <p>Summary of results:</p> <p>Systolic and diastolic blood pressure increases from childhood to adolescence. Baseline blood pressure appears to be the strongest predictor of follow up blood pressure. Change in body mass index influences blood pressure more than baseline body mass index. Boys showed higher levels of change in systolic blood pressure compared to girls. Age showed an interaction with sex for change in systolic blood pressure. Boys exhibited higher change in systolic blood pressure than girls in older age groups compared to younger age groups.</p> <p>Potential implications:</p> <p>The study findings will increase awareness about high blood pressure in children and lead to preventive strategies to contain the burden of hypertension in future.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

Limited research has been done on adult immigrants with disabilities in Canada. Adopting a mixed-methodology, the thesis explores the intersection of immigrant status and disability from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective. Previous research on immigrants with disabilities has primarily focused on parents with disabled children. Little is therefore known about the lived experiences of adult immigrant with disabilities and how these experiences are negotiated and can change across time and place. The quantitative section of the thesis utilized the Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS) from 2006 to examine the receipt of and need for services based on gender, immigrant status, income, education, and age. Quantitative results identified that immigrant women as receiving the least amount of services compared to any group, potentially resulting in them being more vulnerable compared to any other group. The qualitative part of the research consisted of two studies. First, community leaders and disability activists from Middle Eastern and South Asian communities were interviewed to examine the understandings of disability within their communities. Building on key informant findings, the second part explored the lived experiences of physically disabled adult immigrants from the Middle East and South Asia through in-depth interviews. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative results it was identified that place, gender, culture, and policy significantly influence the lived experiences of immigrants with disabilities. Overall, the research highlighted the need for further research on larger service organizations and their provision of services to immigrants. The findings also identified the need for a greater understanding and provision of culturally appropriate services. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Limited research has been done on adult immigrants with disabilities in Canada. Adopting a mixed-methodology, the thesis explores the intersection of immigrant status and disability from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective. Quantitative methods examine and compare the receipt and need of support services between immigrants and the Canadian born population with disabilities. Building on the quantitative findings, the qualitative research adopts a feminist disability theory and an intersectional framework to explore the lived experience of immigrants with physical disabilities from the Middle East and South Asia, living in Canada. The qualitative chapter examines how different categories, for example disability, gender culture, religion, and immigrant status can intersect to create unique lived experiences that changes over time and place. The quantitative and qualitative findings were evaluated to further the knowledge of immigrants with disabilities and future research directions are suggested.

Intimate partner violence impacts women around the world and therefore does not present itself congruently across cultures or regions (Devries et al., 2013; Sarkar, 2010; World Health Organization, 2012). Many contemporary researchers strive to name, classify and understand experiences of intimate partner violence that are distinct to the South Asian subcontinent and members of the South Asian diaspora (Ahmed-Ghosh, 2004; Bloch & Rao, 2002; Chatterji & Chaudhry, 2014; Jeyaseelan et al., 2007; Mani, 1987; Panchanadeswaran, & Koverola, 2005). Their works contribute to a dominant discourse about violence against South Asian women that often frames cultural understandings and practices to be the cause of harm within this community. A dominant discourse which predominantly utilizes Western feminist understandings of “patriarchy” and oppression primarily serves to further homogenize, Other, and essentialize the experiences of South Asian women which cannot and should not be discussed in contrast to violence in a Western context. The impact of applying a Western lens to violence against South Asian women is that Western scholars take on the responsibility of identifying and prioritizing the needs of South Asian peoples and offer solutions to these issues without considering the systems of support that already exist or asking those impacted how they imagine change. This project engages a postcolonial discourse analysis to examine dominant discourses on violence against South Asian women as they are deployed within the context, literature, and research on intimate partner violence. Through analyzing 75 highly cited articles using a postcolonial lens, this project unearths commonalities across the dominant discourse such as the use of positivistic colonial research methods, the construction of a monolithic South Asia, the technologies of neoliberalism and colonial capitalism, and the archetype of the Third World Woman via white feminism. These reoccurring themes throughout the dominant discourse indicate the existence of an inferiorizing and oversimplified understanding of South Asian people and their experiences which is frequently framed using colonial technologies and the white gaze. Deconstructing these mechanisms can create an intentional space for anti-colonial ways of being and knowing as a South Asian person and discussions of violence in the South Asian subcontinent and diaspora without essentializing, homogenizing, or erasing aspects of these experiences. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW)

No / Several studies have shown that financial inclusion impacts poverty and income inequality and higher levels of financial inclusion lead to lower poverty and income inequality and promotes inclusive economic growth. However, the gender gap in access and usage of financial services remains pervasive across all the countries in South Asia. Patriarchal societies, low involvement of women in decision making, low empowerment of women, no voice in the family matters are some of the factors influencing women’s financial access in the region. Although literature has developed on access to financial services in general, there is not much academic work available on access to digital financial services for women. Gender Bias and Digital Financial Services in South Asia: Obstacles and Opportunities on the Road to Equal Access examines access to financial services to women in general in South Asia and specifically their access to digital financial services.