The present research investigates the interaction between Sri Lanka and its closest neighbouring region, South India, during the Early and Middle Historic periods. This connection has often been studied based on the textual evidence available on either side with little regard for the material evidence. Therefore, previous studies have fallen short of providing an objective understanding of the interactions. Furthermore, the focus of previous studies has been large-scale, state-mandated interaction. In contrast, this study has adopted a novel approach through the perspective of personal adornment and has been able to trace far closer contact between the two regions than official interaction suggests. To understand interpersonal interactions between the two regions, objects of personal adornment from seven different sites in Sri Lanka and South India were analysed. The patterns that emerge from assemblages of objects of adornment, including beads and other non-bead adornments were observed. The rationale behind this analysis was that body beautification expresses the individual and social identities of people across time and space. Consequently, it was anticipated that, by observing artefacts that are expressions of the identities and preferences of the general populace, this would shed light on interpersonal contact between the two regions. The patterns visible from the analysis of assemblages illustrate strong similarities between the two regions, during the Early and Middle Historic Periods. This is likely to have been the result of exchanging goods, ideas and technological knowledge. This study has also revealed that amidst shared cultural traits, each region developed preferences distinct from each other. The ethnographic study carried out provides further evidence of interactions between the two regions, which is missing in the texts and the archaeological record. These interactions probably reflect those which existed in the past. The integrated evidence used in this study clearly indicates longstanding, continuous personal-level interactions, between Sri Lanka and South India, which were hitherto unknown.

My dissertation explores the formative stages of European interest in, engagement with and consumption of Indian pictorial art over a period of one hundred and fifty years, from the mid-16th century up to the early 18th century. During this period, European cabinets of curiosities witnessed the arrival of increasing numbers of a previously unknown class of collectible: Indian paintings on paper. Interest in these paintings was spurred by a growing curiosity about the East, combined with a general re-orientation of the European system of knowledge towards a more “scientific” methodology of inquiry, which encouraged a revision of the stereotypes that had informed medieval European conceptions of India through engagement with original sources. The relevance of this phenomenon to the history of early modern exchanges between India and Europe can hardly be overstated. Yet, modern scholarship has tended to ignore it, focusing instead on the Indian fascination with and reception of European artistic forms and techniques. This dissertation seeks to develop a more exhaustive picture of the early modern artistic encounter between India and the West, one in which European consumption of Indian paintings is dutifully represented and India plays an active role in the emerging system of knowledge. The starting and central point of my investigation consists of the vast and diversified collection of Indian paintings gathered by a Venetian traveler to India, Niccolò Manucci (1638-ca. 1720), as a visual accompaniment to his travel account, the so-called Storia do Mogor. This collection, which has remained largely ignored, makes a crucial case-study for approaching issues relative to the nature of European interest in Indian paintings in early modernity, the contexts and modalities through which this interest was articulated, as well as its relevance to processes of knowledge making and identity construction that were prompted by European encounters with alterities. The first part of my study provides an in-depth analysis of Manucci’s collection performed through a careful examination of the paintings it comprises along with contemporary textual sources, including the original manuscripts of the Storia do Mogor. My analysis exposes the interrelatedness of Manucci’s collecting enterprise with his authorial project, as well as assessing its broader scope and intended aims. The second part of the dissertation situates this collecting enterprise within its broader historical context by examining other European collections of Indian paintings dating from the 16th and 17th centuries and characterized by comparable subject matter: portraits of historical and living personages associated with Indo-Muslim dynasties, depictions of native Indian peoples and socio-religious customs, and representations of deities of the Hindu pantheon. Besides delving into the specifics of these collections, I explore their dialogic relation to one another and to descriptive practices and interpretative discourses that gained shape in European travel writing and print culture. In doing so, I highlight their participation in broader cultural trends and their contribution to evolving European approaches towards the Orient. This corpus of largely neglected works offers precious insights into the complex dynamics of cross-cultural encounter, as well as exposing the pivotal role played by early modernity in shaping later trends in Indo-European artistic interactions. Offering a direct antecedent to “Company painting,” a 19th-century Indian pictorial genre for European consumption, these works call for a revision of traditional understandings of the latter as an artistic development prompted by the rise of British colonial interests and agendas, and invite a broader reassessment of a unique historical era – the early modern one – that is key to understanding the roots of institutionalized Orientalism.

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abstract: A preliminary critical ethnographic study was conducted to garner Punjabi Sikh U.S. young adults’ understandings and experiences with their cultural, religious, gender, and sexual identity development. Nine participants from King County, Washington were interviewed and engaged in a weeklong self-reflective journal writing activity. This data was then analyzed alongside existing scholarship. This study indicates that participants experience challenges in navigating their bicultural identity, grappling with the historical and present trauma their communities endure. Additionally, to navigate such challenges, Punjabi Sikh U.S. young adults invoke various methods to negotiate their various cultures, identities, and desires, and remain resilient. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Justice Studies 2019

The Muslim population in the United States has faced numerous challenges in the aftermath of September 11th, including increased negative portrayal of Muslims in the media. While there is increased understanding that the social environment in the US has become more Islamophobic, there is little research in applied psychology fields to understand how this is influencing the life choices of young Muslims in the United States. This investigation focuses on South Asian Muslim Americans and the factors that influence their career decision-making process. Lent and Colleagues’ (1994) Social Cognitive Career Theory career choice model was used to develop a better understanding of these factors. This study investigated how the variables of gender, ethnicity, religiosity, perceived discrimination, and family involvement relate to career decision-making self-efficacy and outcome expectations for South Asian Muslim college students. A hierarchical regression analysis was used to understand the relationships among the variables. The goal of this study was to provide initial understandings of the factors influencing South Asian Muslim Americans career decision-making process. The study did not find a significant relationship among the variables or the applicability of the SCCT career choice model to this population. These findings demonstrate a need to learn more about the career process for this population and other factors specific to the population that may be involved in the career development process. The results provide valuable information for counseling psychologists in university counseling centers to broaden their understanding and support the needs of South Asian Muslim American students during the career choice process.

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This study presents the grammar of the Lewotobi dialect of Lamaholot, an Austronesian language spoken in the eastern part of Flores Island and neighboring islands of Indonesia. Lamaholot belongs to the Central Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of Austronesian, within which it is in a subgroup with the languages of Timor and Roti. The number of speakers of the Lewotobi dialect is approximately 6,000. Despite its importance in the history and typology of Austronesian languages, this dialect of Lamaholot has not been fully described yet. This study is the first thorough grammar of this dialect. In the absence of available description of the language, the data presented here have been collected through fieldwork conducted at the Nurri village of Kabupaten Flores Timur for a total of eight months. The purpose of this sturdy is two-fold. The first goal is to provide an empirically-based description and analysis of the entire range of the Lamaholot grammar from phonology through morphology to syntax and semantics. It begins with the discussion of phonetics and phonology, proceeds to examine morphological processes and parts of speech and then turns to the form and function of each part of speech: nouns, pronouns, numerals, measure words, verbs, adjectival nouns, adjectival verbs, demonstratives, directionals, the locative, TAM markers and other minor parts of speech. Building upon these foundations, subsequent chapters offer a detailed analysis and discussion of the following syntactic phenomena: (i) agreement, (ii) clause structure, (iii) voice and grammatical relations, (iv) verb serialization, and (v) spatial language. A mini dictionary and texts are provided as appendices to a grammatical description. The second and equally important purpose of this study is to shed new light on issues surrounding the history and typology of Austronesian languages from a perspective of Lamaholot data. Attention is drawn particularly to two grammatical phenomena: (i) the position of Lamaholot in a typology of voice and grammatical relations in western Austronesian languages and (ii) spatial language and frames of reference. It is hoped that this study will help advance both research in Austronesian linguistics and our knowledge of human language in general.

This dissertation evaluates preksha dhyana, a form of modern yoga introduced by the Jain Shvetambara Terapanth in 1975. Modern yoga emerged as a consequence of a complex encounter of Indian yogic gurus, American and British metaphysical thinkers, and modern ideas about science and health. I provide a brief history of the Terapanth from its eighteenth-century founder, Bikshu, to its current monastic guru, Mahaprajna, who constructed preksha dhyana. I evaluate the historical trajectory that led from the Terapanth's beginnings as a sect that maintained a world-rejecting ascetic ideal to its late twentieth-century introduction of preksha dhyana, which is popularly disseminated as a practice aimed at health and well-being. The practice and ideology of preksha dhyana is, however, context specific. In the Terapanthi monastic context, it functions as a metaphysical, mystical, and ascetic practice. In this way, it intersects with classical schools of yoga, which aim at ascetic purification and release from the world. In its popular dissemination by the samanis, female members of an intermediary Terapanthi monastic order, it functions as a physiotherapeutic practice. The samanis teach yoga to students in India, the United States, and Britain whose interests are primarily in yoga's physical and psychological benefits. In this way, it is a case study of modern yoga, which aims at the enhancement of the body and life in the world. I demonstrate how the samanis are mediators of their guru, Mahaprajna, and thus resolve ancient and contemporary tensions between ascetic and worldly values. I also demonstrate how Mahaprajna and the samanis construct preksha dhyana as a form of modern yoga by appropriating scientific discourse and attributing physiological function to the yogic subtle body. I argue that preksha dhyana can be located at an intersection with late capitalist cultural processes as well as New Age spirituality insofar as its proponents participate in the transnational yoga market. Finally, I conclude with some thoughts on the successes and failures of the Terapanth in its attempt to globally disseminate preksha dhyana.

Loyalty conflicts. Resistance. Anger. This thesis will take you along on my journey as a South Asian woman and the mother and stepmother of a cross-cultural stepfamily. Through the form of an arts-informed auto-ethnography I will illustrate how I underwent personal and spiritual transformation while (step) mothering four children. It is a story that “both cuts and heals” (Luciani, 2000, p. 39). In this work I show how mothering and stepmothering can “deteriorate into martyrdom if a mother gives her children and spouse the love and care she doesn’t feel that she herself is worthy of receiving” (Northrup, 2005, p. 13). I explore how the pressure to be a “good mother” and “good stepmother” left me feeling inadequate, resentful, doubtful of my abilities and neglectful of my own needs. Hope. Solace. Spirituality. Love. This story is also about healing and renewal and my process of recapturing a sense of self by returning to spirituality. By sinking into my life as a mother and stepmother and viewing my life circumstance as a “vehicle for waking up” (Chodron, 1991, p. 71), I cultivated a conscious state in which anger and resentment was replaced by awe and wonder. I strengthened my agency by directing nurturing and caregiving to myself, pursuing my creativity, and sharing childrearing more equitably with my partner. Mothering and stepmothering became sites of empowerment as I found joy in my relationship with myself, my children, and the community around me. This research provides an example of how meaningful knowledge production can occur in alternative forms to mainstream academic discourse. Arts-informed, auto-ethnographic research offers insights on human relationships and interactions in the world by fostering an epistemological shift for the researcher as well as the reader. As Sameshina and Knowles note (2008) this methodology is “transformational in process and possibilities” (108).

The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe the resilience strategies of 13 South Asian female survivors of child sexual abuse. Two research questions guided this study: (a) How does a small sample of South Asian adult women in the United States (U.S.) describe their experiences of child sexual abuse? and (b) What resilience strategies do these South Asian female survivors of child sexual abuse report using to cope with child sexual abuse? The phenomenological research design was grounded in feminist theory to capture the lived experiences of resilience related to child sexual abuse (Patton, 1990). Data were collected during semi-structured interviews with five informants and one 90-minute focus group of eight informants who did not participate in the individual interviews. Bracketing of researcher assumptions was used to demonstrate dependability, credibility, and coherence of the data reduction and analysis (Creswell, 1998). Open coding generated a list of broad domains to create a codebook (Wertz, 2005). Using a recursive method of data collection and analysis, the codebook guided independent coding of each transcribed interview. Constant comparison identified new codes that did not fit under previously identified domains (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). Two overarching themes emerged from the data. The first theme, South Asian context, included four subthemes (gender, family, ethnic identity, acculturation), and the second theme, resilience, included five subthemes (use of silence, hope social support, social advocacy, self-care). A model based on these finding suggests the informants in this study made meaning of child sexual abuse within a South Asian context before utilizing effective resilience strategies. Practice and research implications for South Asian women who have survived child sexual abuse are discussed.