Abstract not available.

Abstract not available.

Satellite television, an often-cited example of globalization, has proliferated in India since 1991. Although primarily a transnational pan-Asian phenomenon, satellite television's growth in India was aided by the rise of local cable providers and the government's economic liberalization policies. Global media corporations however emphasized Indian film based programs over Western programs in a bid to enter the Indian market. This strategy, in conjunction with the music and film industries, has made music television a pervasive phenomenon which includes channels like MTV and Channel V and musk based programs in other channels like Star, Zee, Sun, and ETV. Music television mainly features Indian film songs and pop music, but follows certain global genres and conventions such as the top ten format and VJs. This study situates the social and cultural impact of music television in the experience of globalization in India through a reception study conducted in Hyderabad. The main findings of this study are: (a) the discourses of music television and globalization are meaningful only to young middle class participants and not to older middle class and working class participants; (b) these participants decode music countdowns as enabling representation of the public to a greater extent than was possible under Doordarshan (state television) monopoly; (c) they decode the music video of “Made in India” in emotional/relational terms as a global recognition of India's national culture and perceive globalization as the rise of India to global prominence rather than the influx of global culture into India. While emotional/relational experiences in watching music television are common to all participants, only young middle class participants assume authority as the public and the nation through the orientalistic representations of the same on music television by situating their emotional/relational experiences in discourses of liberalization and globalization. The modern worldview that arises through these discourses is hence characterized as a hegemonic globality which arises in the negotiation between the imperial globality of capitalist modernity and the familial globality of emotional/relational values. The fact, however, that the discourses of imperial globality do not permit recognition of the epistemic authority or globality of emotional/relational values is taken as evidence of cultural imperialism.

Background: Little is known about the perspectives of South Asian mothers with regards to the experience of intimate partner violence (IPV), including risk and protective factors, impacts of exposure, and help-seeking. This thesis is comprised of two sub-studies. In the first study, a scoping review was conducted to identify and map the literature on IPV amongst South Asian women residing outside of South Asia. The second study consists of a qualitative project to explore how IPV is perceived among South Asian mothers living in Ontario, Canada. Methods: The first study was a scoping review conducted using the 5-stage framework outlined by Arksey and O’Malley, and later advanced by Levac et al. Four health and social science databases, including Embase, CINAHL, Medline, and PsychINFO were systematically searched from inception to June 2020 using the themes “intimate partner violence” and “South Asian.” Studies were screened for inclusion based on pre-determined eligibility criteria, and relevant data with regards to study location, journal type, and sample characteristics were abstracted by two independent reviewers. Studies were organized and synthesized into thematic categories. Then a qualitative descriptive study was conducted with a purposeful sample of 6 South Asian mothers from the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, recruited from a sub-sample of the SouTh Asian biRth CohorT Study (START). Semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore their perceptions and experiences of IPV in their community. The interview data were analysed using reflective thematic analysis. Findings: The scoping review revealed that most studies qualitatively explored the experiences and perceptions of IPV amongst women of the South Asian diaspora; however, there was a paucity of quantitative literature to ascertain the impacts of exposure to IPV. Similarly, there was a dearth of literature on the prevention of IPV in this population. Other research gaps included the lack of clinical samples, the underrepresentation of some South Asian ethnicities over others, and the overrepresentation of studies conducted in the USA. The qualitative descriptive study revealed that among this sample of South Asian mothers, they expressed that in-laws play a significant role in contributing to violence from in-laws, which can lead to IPV, and in increasing a woman’s risk of experiencing IPV by adhering to traditional gender roles. Participants identified that the IPV can manifest as unequal sharing of responsibilities between partners and women’s education can be protective against IPV. Participants believed that their concern for their children’s well-being along with cultural expectations of South Asian females, played a key role in the decision to seek help for IPV. Participants identified that physicians could play an important role in helping women who have experienced IPV by asking about IPV and offering resources. Discussion: This scoping review, which identified and mapped IPV literature, and qualitative study, which investigated the perceptions of IPV amongst South Asian mothers, contribute to the body of IPV literature amongst women in the South Asian diaspora. The findings can help inform future research directions, and can contribute to the general understanding of stakeholders, such as service providers for IPV, about how IPV is understood, experienced, and addressed among South Asian mothers. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

No description available.

The purpose of this project is to demonstrate that the rational-legal bureaucratic institutions inherited by post-colonial states from their former colonial patrons have clashed with indigenous cultural norms, leading to legitimation failure. This lack of legitimacy, in turn, leads to political and bureaucratic corruption among the individuals tasked with embodying and enforcing the norms of these bureaucratic institutions. Instances of corruption such as bribery and solicitation of bribes, misappropriation of public funds, nepotistic hiring practices, and the general placement of personal gain over the rule of law on the part of officials weaken the state’s ability and willingness to enforce its laws, promote stability and economic growth, and ensure the welfare of its citizens. This corruption and its multidimensional detrimental effects on the lives of citizens are forms of what has been called structural violence. In this project, I examine four case studies of Indian subnational states that have experienced varying degrees and types of colonial bureaucratic imposition, resulting in divergent structurally violent outcomes. Deeming these systems “violent” has normative implications regarding responsibility for the problems of the post-colonial world. Corruption is often cited as a reason not to give loans or aid to certain developing countries; but viewing the matter in terms of structural violence highlights the need for not only economic assistance but also institutional overhaul. / Political Science

South Asian same-sex attracted women in the United States experience discrimination and marginalization that puts them at an increased risk for mental health issues. Research shows their rates of counseling and psychotherapy use are low due to perceptions of stigma, lack of knowledge, and concerns about culturally insensitive treatment plans. Mental health providers lack the literature needed to inform culturally sensitive treatment plans to address these concerning gaps in services, and an extensive literature review found no studies on the lived experiences of this population. Guided by feminist theory, this research study examined how discrimination, oppression, and marginalization mold women's lived experiences; this knowledge aims to serve as a means to advocate for social and political change for this population. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences of this population. An emergent hand coding analysis, using experiential anecdotes, of data collected from interviews of 10 participants generated 10 major themes and 25 subthemes of experiences. Themes included importance of cultural values; familial relationships; marital life plan; intersectionality; and discrimination from gender disparity, patriarchal hierarchy, and sexual modesty. The study contributes to social change initiatives by providing culturally and contextually practical information to mental health professionals, counselor educators, and educational institutions that provide services to this population.

This transnational study of the first-wave South Asian immigrant experience in British Columbia and the Pacific coast states shows how elected officials at all levels of government, bureaucrats, union leaders, physicians, members of the press, and the general public utilized purported public health concerns to justify South Asian exclusion and disenfranchisement. While all Asian groups living along the Pacific coast faced opposition to their immigration and settlement, India’s subordinate status within the British Empire, and a sustained western association of South Asians with disease, uniquely positioned North American discourse on South Asians at the intersection of colonial theory, Orientalism, and medicalized nativism in the first two decades of the twentieth century. / Thesis (Ph.D, History) -- Queen's University, 2013-09-25 20:19:03.29

The AIMS of this study are to: (1) To explore how South Asian women (those who have ethnic origins in India, Pakistan or Bangladesh) make sense of the beta-thalassaemia trait in the context of their everyday experiences and, in turn, how these experiences impact their identities. (2) To ascertain the extent of the assimilation and management of genetic information by women of South Asian origin. (3) To contribute towards the debate on the provision of culturally sensitive screening policies and the dissemination of genetic information and to analyse ways in which such policies can be improved. STUDY DESIGN: A qualitative modified grounded theory study comprising of semi-structured interviews conducted in English, Urdu, Punjabi, Sylheti and Hindi. Five geographical sites were selected for the study: three in London, one in the West Midlands and a further site in Northern England based on their high density of South Asian populations as indicated by the 1991 UK Census data. Purposive sampling ensured diversity in participant backgrounds (e.g. socio-economic, religion, marital, child’s health and age). Interviews were translated and transcribed by the researcher and the computer software NVivo was used to analyse the data. SAMPLE: Forty-one South Asian women who had been diagnosed with the beta-thalassaemia trait and two haemoglobinopathy nurse specialists who undertook the role of counselling. FINDINGS: The empirical findings revealed the importance of identity, faith, culture and diversity in how women managed the knowledge of the beta thalassaemia trait. Common perceptions held by health service staff of South Asian women being homogenous in attitudes to prenatal diagnosis and termination; as subjugated to their husbands in decision-making; and as fatalistic because of their religious convictions were shown by this study to be misconceived. South Asian women actively managed their trait within the context of their everyday socio-cultural and religious experiences. For example, liberal notions of ‘informed choice’ were found not to take account of the institutional importance of motherhood for South Asian women living in the UK. Their experience of beta-thalassaemia trait was also mediated through relations of power, both within kinship networks and between family and health professionals. In making sense of the genetic identities accorded to them by health professionals, they also re-interpreted, negotiated and contested the ethos of the screening and prenatal testing processes. The participants used power and positionality to relocate their sense of genetic responsibility away from the self onto others, employing geographical and cultural explanations to justify their apparent inaction in the face of biomedical expectations and assumptions. CONCLUSION: Women acted according to their perceptions of how others would perceive them if their trait were to be disclosed and as a result they presented and constructed the trait in order to preserve the ‘self’ within the context of their everyday life experiences which has implications for the delivery of appropriately targeted screening and health services.

<p> Adventure is a relic of imperialism and the European romanticization of place. It has evolved from quests for domination of place and people (colonialism), to spiritual or consumeristic escape from the modern world, to an attempt to return or reconnect to nature. This paradigm implies that if humans must reconnect to nature, there is an inherent disconnect or a separation. This reconnection is rooted in romantic notions and Cartesian duality of man and nature. However, approaches towards adventure and tourism apart from such dominant Western mountain traditions focus on the critical and contextually based aspects of adventure experiences. These approaches, informed by indigenous meanings of place, traditional ecological knowledge, and ecofeminism, decenter human experience. Likewise, a feminist new materialist approach towards understanding place and materiality also allows for an awareness of entanglements and intra-active relationships of human and more-than-human to emerge, as did this research. </p><p> This dissertation examined place in the context of adventure trekking tourism in the upper Solukhumbu District, Nepal through a walking ethnography of the trails in and around Mount Everest base camp. This research was based on the following questions: 1. How can the future of development of Nepali Himalayan adventure tourism industry move forward ethically and with reciprocity towards the interconnectivity of mountains and people; 2. How can the adventure tourism industry consider the complexities of influence on a place&mdash;from both a direct impact and that of greater anthropogenic impacts? This research was grounded in the background and orientations of Everest tourism, which developed within discourse and materiality of Khumbu, shifting with local identities and meanings of place. Tourism in this context mangles in the edges of local and global cultures looming within immanent threats of the Anthropocene. Discourse composed and idealized from outside the mountain boundaries contributes to motivations for traveling to the Khumbu and perceptions of this place, in turn shaping the expectations of the tourist. In these contact zones mountains are sacred, a business venture, a personal challenge, place of revelation and spirituality, imperial conquest, neocolonial stomping ground, to scientific object of study. Within these complexities, this dissertation examined the concept of place and how meaning and agency develop in relation to adventure tourism experiences in Khumbu and the Anthropocene. A reciprocity develops in which human amongst more-than-human becomes embedded and inseparable. Shifting an anthropocentric gaze that privileges and sets matter apart as isolated and constrained by boundaries determined by humans, demonstrated the vibrant agential reality of more-than-human intimacies such as forgotten landscapes, rocks, dirt, glaciers, and altitude. Nature is not a passive object upon which humans descend, but rather an entangled subjectivity. This awareness allows for a rethinking of human enactments of Anthropocene and complicit behaviors of this epoch, reframing approaches to adventure. The conclusions of this research found that mountains&mdash;more-than-human&mdash;have agency and meaning and are not passive or in the background of human experience. This applies to a practical application of the research through a praxis tool for new materialist research and the adventure industry, in turn decentering the human/anthropocentrism and identified practices of tourism that are both sustainable and more inclusive of the entanglements of people and place.</p>