206 research outputs found
Un chapelet sur le caducée: tentatives d’évangélisation catholique et protestante des Asmat (Papouasie occidentale)
No full textThis article compares the missionization methods applied by representatives of Christian churches - the Roman Catholic Church and The Evangelical Alliance Mission - in their efforts to motivate conversion among the Asmat of West Papua (Indonesia). The author particularly focuses on the missionaries' understanding of the compatibility of local traditions with their brand of Christianity, and how missionaries view medical health care within the context of missionization. Catholic missionaries encourage the integration of traditional cultural expression as well as traditional health care into Christian practice, while the evangelical missionaries enforce a radical distinction of their Christian beliefs and rituals. The author further documents to what degree these methods shape the life of Asmat Christians and their worldview, concluding that missionization causes people to live in two worlds: one shaped by the traditional Asmat worldview and one fashioned by the new Christian worldview.SCOPUS: ed.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe
The Challenge of Spatial Information Accessibility for Agricultural Policies: Case of Pakistan
No full textAgriculture is directly linked to the socio-economic development of every region. Agriculture impacts us all, whether we are seeking food security, better health or striving to conserve natural resources. Goal 2 of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) underlines the significance of agriculture as a means to achieve food security. United Nations in its recently published report titled “World Economic Situation and Prospects 2020”(UN, 2020) has declared agriculture as one of the global priorities for achieving high-quality health care and formal employment opportunities. Agriculture is a spatial subject. Policy makers demand unrestricted access to spatial data of various kinds in order to address agricultural issues and for evidence-based policy-making. Therefore, what types of spatial datasets are required for agricultural policy-making is a relevant question which is the objective of this paper. This paper also explores agriculture in Pakistan, main challenges faced by the agriculture sector of the country, and how many as well as what kind of spatial datasets are required to address these policy challenges.This paper is part of PhD research done by Mr. Asmat Ali under the supervision of Dr. Muhammad Imra
The Challenge of Spatial Information Accessibility for Agricultural Policies: Case of Pakistan
No full textAgriculture is directly linked to the socio-economic development of every region. Agriculture impacts us all, whether we are seeking food security, better health or striving to conserve natural resources. Goal 2 of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) underlines the significance of agriculture as a means to achieve food security. United Nations in its recently published report titled “World Economic Situation and Prospects 2020”(UN, 2020) has declared agriculture as one of the global priorities for achieving high-quality health care and formal employment opportunities. Agriculture is a spatial subject. Policy makers demand unrestricted access to spatial data of various kinds in order to address agricultural issues and for evidence-based policy-making. Therefore, what types of spatial datasets are required for agricultural policy-making is a relevant question which is the objective of this paper. This paper also explores agriculture in Pakistan, main challenges faced by the agriculture sector of the country, and how many as well as what kind of spatial datasets are required to address these policy challenges.This paper is part of PhD research done by Mr. Asmat Ali under the supervision of Dr. Muhammad Imra
Two studies on Asmat and social transformation in the past and the present
No full textReview of:
Jan Pouwer, Gender, ritual and social formation in West Papua: A configurational analysis comparing Kamoro and Asmat.
Astrid de Hontheim, Chasseurs de diables et collecteurs d’art: Tentatives de conversion des Asmat par les missionnaires pionniers protestants et catholiques.URN:NBN:NL:UI:10-1-101392
AULINE VAN DER ZEE
Two studies on Asmat and social
transformation in the past and the present
Jan Pouwer, Gender, ritual and social formation in West Papua:
A configurational analysis comparing Kamoro and Asmat. Leiden:
KITLV Press, 2010, x + 300 pp. [Verhandelingen 258.] ISBN
9789067183253. Price: EUR 34.90 (paperback).
Astrid de Hontheim, Chasseurs de diables et collecteurs d’art:
Tentatives de conversion des Asmat par les missionnaires pionniers
protestants et catholiques. Bruxelles: P.I.E. Peter Lang, 2008 + 317
pp. [Dieux, Hommes et Religions 12.] ISBN 9789052013800.
Price: EUR 34.95 (print on demand).
Etnografische Verzamelingen van de Universiteit Gent
[email protected]
Two studies feature the Asmat of West Papua, New Guinea: Jan Pouwer compares
their rituals with those of their western neighbours, the Kamoro, and
Astrid de Hontheim examines the impact of religious missionaries. In the
1950s, Pouwer was a government anthropologist who lived among and studied
the social structures of the Kamoro (then known as Mimika). He became
so familiar with them that they called him Mister Pen and Paper, a title of honour.
Pouwer wrote his dissertation in 1955, but, as it was published in Dutch,
it never got the international recognition it deserved. Therefore it is fortunate
that he was able to finish Gender, ritual and social formation in West Papua, which
may be regarded as his magnum opus.
Through interviews, Astrid de Hontheim compares the strategies and methods
of Catholic and Protestant missionaries. At the beginning of the book the
pioneering Dutch priest Gerard Zegwaard is introduced. In 1953, he started
converting the Asmat to Christianity. He settled in the region, thus forcing the
Dutch colonial government to establish Agats station, which has today become
the largest town. For the description of this very first period the author has to
rely on documents, and as these observations are written in Dutch and usually
were not translated in English, the book blurs the contours at this point. But
between 2001 and 2006 De Hontheim interviewed 23 retired priests and preachers
and three missionaries still in the field, as well as 22 Asmat, including three clergy-men, who offered independent opinions. She draws attention to the
problems of Catholic and Protestant missionaries in the field, their adaptation
to the territory, their perception of reality and their tolerance with respect to
the Asmat people and their influence on the culture. These interviews complement
ethnographic observations which are the core of cultural anthropology.
Over the trajectory of De Hontheim’s fieldwork, the strange gradually becomes
familiar and perhaps as well, the familiar strange. De Hontheim also applies
this anthropological approach to the history of conversion in West Papua into
the framework of specialist literature on Christianity in Oceania.
Pouwer’s work similarly contributes to the literature of the region. His
book offers a valuable supplement to the cross-cultural analysis of South Coast
New Guinea cultures: History, comparison, dialectic (1993), which overlooked the
Kamoro, as author Knauft could not read Dutch. Pouwer makes a comparative
analysis by means of a configuration: ‘a process that turns elements into
components arranged and imbued with meaning by a central orientation’
(pp. 7-8). Of course, here is a man who devoted his lifelong career to structuralism,
and to systematic comparisons. Because Pouwer is willing to interpret
the fundamental differences and the remarkable similarities of Kamoro and
Asmat, he gives the reader something to hold on to; he offers a clear insight
into society, culture and beliefs, and into the ways in which they go together
or interact. In this way, he contributes to a deeper understanding of their
cultures. Pouwer emphasises that their world view is based on two concepts:
reciprocity or balance, and duality, which in turn are an expression of the
principle of complementarity.
According to Pouwer, the principle of complementarity structures the
world – and thus myths, rituals and art, into basic binaries: the duality of
man and woman, on a cosmic level, the division of upper world and under
world, and on a spiritual level, ancestors and the living. Reciprocity is called
ao pao by the Kamoro. Women still have a powerful position in the gathering
of food, and Kamoro tend to focus in a symbolic way on female aspects, and
according to Pouwer, therefore the way they strive for balance is far more
peaceable than their neighbours. Even at the time of his fieldwork, Asmat
exhibited a strong obsession with headhunting and revenge; their men
were rewarded for their warfare. While Kamoro focus on female fertility,
the Asmat believe that spiritual life stems from death, the male antithesis of
continuity. This is the most important difference between the two cultures.
Strong similarities are to be found in their cosmology, their narratives, their
art, as well as in their rituals and cult of the dead. Pouwer expands upon the
traditional religion of both Kamoro and Asmat, which still determines their
way of thinking, even if they are converted to Christianity.
A different sort of duality exists in the religious strategies for conversion.
The title of De Hontheim’s work hints at the most salient discrepancy
between the Protestant and Catholic missions. The Protestants were not so
much concerned about the culture of the Asmat Papuans, but present God’s
Word and take an objective to pursue ‘Satan in the swamps’. The Catholics
assert that the goal of policy is not conversion but the wellbeing of the Asmat,
and to keep their culture alive by stimulating and collecting Asmat woodcarving.
The Protestant clergymen focus on medical care next to pastoral care;
Catholic missionaries fix their attention more on schooling, hygiene, and the
emancipation of women. The book merely sets these approaches beside one
another without analysis or commentary about their similarities and differences,
and little or no judgement of their overall project
The one thing De Hontheim is clear about is that her informants have
trouble understanding ‘the Other.’ Most striking is that in their work missionaries
mostly depart from their own convictions and theories. It appears
difficult for missionaries to enter into the Asmat’s way of thinking. The same
goes for the reader, as published interviews do not provide enough opportunity
to gain a real insight into the worldview of the Asmat. De Hontheim
shows the approach of the missionaries and related problems. They see it
as a difficult task to introduce what they regard as the achievements of the
Western welfare state as schooling, medical care, hygiene and women’s lib,
or the rejection of polygamy, especially when the result often fails to achieve
the desired effect. It came to pass that girls going to mixed schools later
became pregnant. It also happened that they did not apply their knowledge
of hygiene on their return to the village. According to Virgil Petermeyer OSC,
an introduction of these concepts is more successful if it is in accord with
elements already existing in Asmat culture; for example making use of the
pre-existing stories and symbols in teaching. He states that, during initiation,
knowledge is passed on to the young men via mythology and also via works
of art that conceal privileged information. However, on occasion Petermeyer
also meets fathers who withdraw their sons from school on the grounds that
school learning shouldn’t interfere with traditional, sacred and secret knowledge.
But for those critical of missionary work, this methodological advice is
beside the point, since it merely offers ways for Catholic or Protestant institutions
to more effectively and efficiently achieve their goals.
When Pouwer discusses the modern marketed carvings, and the revival
of the accompanying rituals as supported by the Crosiers Asmat Project,
he shows clearly how it converges in a reification of culture limited to art.
Pouwer combines the data of his fieldwork in the 1950s with those of the
recent situation gathered by scholars with whom he maintained a direct
contact. In this way, he also pays attention to the Catholic mission and their
‘cultural diplomacy’. It is also remarkable that he draws not only on his own
investigation, but also on research of Catholic missionaries with a keen interest
in the mythology and worldview of Asmat and Kamoro. In his acknowl
edgements, Pouwer expresses his respect to the dedication of Zegwaard, and
Coenen, his successor in Kokonao, in the Mimika region: ‘They put much
effort into gaining a deeper understanding of Kamoro and Asmat life-ways;
I owe a lot to them’ (p. x).
It will be clear that the anthropologist Pouwer, as a structuralist, has
another goal and another public than De Hontheim. By systematically comparing,
he focuses on cultural orientations, patterns and paradoxes, whilst
De Hontheim gives her informants a voice. Because of this basic difference
in attitude, motivation and methods of the two authors, their understanding
and description of the Asmat world naturally differs as well.
The anthropological method used by De Hontheim is nowadays also
adopted by Western performing artists, filmmakers, and visual artists, due
to the personal and temporal elements in description. They consider many
issues. How great is the responsibility of the author who noted all those
opinions? What choices did she make in giving informants a voice? Opinions
of the interviewer may change during the research process, and those of the
reader may also change over the course of the book. The book starts with a
scattering of voices, building up to a many-voiced choir of informants making
all sorts of sounds and noises; some very distinct voices, striking a completely
different note than others, but everyone seems to be telling a different
story. De Honteheim’s fascination with missionary cultures trying to convert
the Asmat and change their traditional practices provokes general reflection
on similar contemporary efforts at what today are called ‘nation building’
or ‘democracy promotion’. What might readers, whether native or colonial,
religious or secular, make of such practices?
What is documented, how, and for whom? How does the author handle
the answers of her Asmat informants? Often I found that they noted that
Westerners ask those questions which they are unable to grasp, whilst being
expected to give answers which are comprehensible to Westerners. What did
this research mean to the Asmat who contributed to it? How do we evaluate
the status of these time documents? The onus is placed on the reader to
deduce their own analysis or story. The difficulties of suggnomè, the Greek
notion of ‘understanding the same reality’, become readily apparent in this
context
ANALYSIS OF THE CRIMINAL SYSTEM OF THE PRACTICE OF PERSECUTION IN THE CRIMINAL OF THEFT IN THE JURISDICTION OF THE ASMAT RESORT POLICE
No full textThis study aims to determine the punishment system for perpetrators of persecution of perpetrators of criminal acts of theft in the Legal Area of the Asmat Resort Police and to determine the obstacles to law enforcement against perpetrators of practicing persecution of perpetrators of criminal acts of theft in the Legal Area of the Asmat Resort Police. The author analyzes the data using the socio-juridical approach method, that is, in addition to studying law theoretically and normatively in the form of analyzing various laws and regulations, books and articles that have a correlation and are relevant to the problems studied, will also examine the law in its implementation using techniques data collection through interviews and documentation. The criminal system and punishment that can be applied to perpetrators of persecution of perpetrators of criminal acts of theft is only limited to perpetrators of persecution who actually act as movers and provocateurs who influence the practice of persecution for members of the public at the place where the perpetrators of theft were caught, by imposing Article 170 Paragraph (3) and Article 351 of the Criminal Code, if the persecution is carried out until the perpetrator of the theft dies, while other residents who carry out the persecution are not harmed. The obstacles to law enforcement for the perpetrators of the persecution of the perpetrators of the crime of theft include the lack of Investigation Unit personnel and members of the Asmat Police, the absence of operational car facilities that can carry the perpetrators of persecution because there are no cars that can operate in the Asmat Regency area, the lack of members\u27 legal knowledge, and the absence of a district attorney\u27s office or a district court in Asmat District, which made it difficult for the perpetrators of persecution to be detained
Gender, ritual and social formation in West Papua: a configurational analysis comparing Kamoro and Asmat
Full text linkThis study, based on a lifelong involvement with New Guinea, compares the culture of the Kamoro (18,000 people) with that of their eastern neighbours, the Asmat (40,000), both living on the south coast of West Papua, Indonesia. The comparison, showing substantial differences as well as striking similarities, contributes to a deeper understanding of both cultures. Part I looks at Kamoro society and culture through the window of its ritual cycle, framed by gender. Part II widens the view, offering in a comparative fashion a more detailed analysis of the socio-political and cosmo-mythological setting of the Kamoro and the Asmat rituals. Next is a systematic comparison of the rituals. The comparison includes a cross-cultural, structural analysis of relevant myths. This publication is of interest to scholars and students in Oceanic studies and those drawn to the comparative study of cultures. The author (1924) started his career as a government anthropologist in West New Guinea in the 1950s and 1960s, with periods of intensive fieldwork, in particular among the Kamoro. A distinguished anthropologist, he held professorships at universities around the world
Perovskite Solar Cells : Improved Active layer Morphology and Pore-filling in TiO2 Nano-Scaffolds
No full textOrganometallic halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have recently shown tremendous research interest due to their remarkable photovoltaic (PV) performance reaching up to 22% power conversion efficiency in merely five years since their first solid-state high performing device reported in 2012. This high performance stems from judicious selection of charge transport layers and enabling efficient charge extraction at device interfaces, optimization of the perovskite composition such as inclusion of formamidinium (FA) or Caesium (Cs) or both into the commonly employed Methyl Ammonium cation (MA), and a control over perovskite layer morphology. The research work presented in this thesis primarily explores the influence of the perovskite MAPbI3 active layer morphology and crystallinity and the role of selective contacts such as widely employed TiO2 compact layers and one-dimensional scaffolds on the device performance and stability.
At first, the effect of perovskite morphology was investigated by employing solvent additives and anti-solvent treatment methods on the perovskite films developed via single-step and double-step methods. The solubility of the precursor solution was enhanced by adding a controlled amount of additive (in this case DI-H2O), resulting in a smooth and uniform MAPbI3 film surface. Similarly, a significant improvement in MAPbI3 morphology was observed upon anti-solvent treatment. The modified films not only showed higher crystallinity, but also a change in the perovskite energy levels. This shift in the energy levels favoured interfacial charge transfer leading to an improvement in open circuit voltage (1.08 V) up from 0.61V for an untreated rival. The effect of anti-solvent treatment on the MAPbI3 films deposited via double-step deposition method was also investigated. Unlike a significant improvement observed for the perovskite films developed via single-step method, we observed no significant difference on the perovskite morphology. We noted that the anti-solvent treatment only works well for initially bad perovskite films with poor surface coverage, and in the case of an already smooth film, it rather decreased the film thickness leading to a drop in light absorption and photocurrent.
We then investigated the role of one-dimensional (1D) TiO2 electron transport layers (ETLs), namely, TiO2 nanorods/and nanotubes on the device performance and stability. We particularly focused on improving the commonly observed inferior pore-filling of the perovskite in nanorods/nanotubes scaffolds which is a bottleneck for device performance. We demonstrated a perovskite healing process (recrystallization of MAPbI3 films in the methylamine gas environment) to improve the pore-filling in these 1D nanostructures, which was confirmed via scanning electron microscope imaging. Besides the improved pore-filling fraction upon healing, we also found an improvement in the perovskite crystallinity and formation of large crystal grains. Photoluminescence and electrical characterizations demonstrated an improved charge transfer in the healed films compared to their pristine analogous. We also observed a significant improvement in the power conversion efficiency and stability under continuous light soaking in perovskite solar cells fabricated using the healed perovskite films
Traversing the boundaries? Art and film in Indonesia with particular reference to Perbatasan/boundaries: Lucia Hartini, paintings from a life
Full text linkThe repressive political conditions of the New Order state and the social dislocation caused by rapid industrial and technological development unquestionably affected the nature of artistic and cultural production in Indonesia. This thesis considers the dynamic of these conditions within a focused long-term study of the art and life of Indonesian "Surealis" painter, Lucia Hartini. My doctoral dissertation comprises this thesis and the forty-two minute documentary film Perbatasan / Boundaries: Lucia Hartini, Paintings from a Life (1999 – 2002) which I filmed in Indonesia and presents Lucia Hartini and her art in the context of her times from the historical standpoint of Reformasi and millennial change. Art historically, this thesis informs us of a wider journey, that of selected twentieth century Indonesian contemporary artists exploring concepts of simulacra, hyper-reality, the meta-real and the surreal through the stylistic use of photo-realism.
Lucia Hartini is known for her "Beautiful Surrealism". A founding member of the "Surealis Yogya", formed in 1985, she was the only woman from the original group to continue painting professionally from the late 1970s, throughout the New Order, and into the era of Reform. The consideration of Lucia Hartini's work in this thesis acknowledges the gradual shift in her concerns. Lucia's paintings respond to her natural and social environment, as well as to the challenges and dramatic changes in her life. This thesis charts the journey of her artistic maturation, so richly embodied in her third solo exhibition, "Irama Kehidupan / The Spirit of Life", in January 2002. Through a critical commentary on paintings selected from her oeuvre and the textual analysis of Perbatasan / Boundaries, I discuss Lucia Hartini’s subject matter, unique systems of image formation and use of detail, her particular contribution to the characteristic qualities of Indonesian "Surealisme". I regard the techniques, conceptual approaches and processes of filmmaking as intrinsic to this exploration, a methodological perspective arising from Hendro Wiyanto (2001) observation that Indonesia's "Surealis" artists present us with "reality bundled as a dream".
Lucia Hartini’s work raises questions of gender and personal transformation. This thesis argues that, for many years, the tensions created by the contrary forces of political repression and social transformation characterising much of New Order Indonesia, were reflected in her art. In a microcosmic-macrocosmic sense, Lucia and her art quietly contributed to attitudinal and social change in Indonesia. Works painted between 1986 and 1996 autobiographically chart a shift from personal distress to a growing sense of empowerment, followed by life-changing spiritual growth. I contextualize these paintings socially by studying the changing interstices between Lucia Hartini’s private life, her professional creative practice and the public persona she adopted in Indonesia’s emergent civilian society. My approach is informed by a conceptual framework based on difference, hybridity and its transformations, on the psychology of borderlands, negotiation and the transcendence of boundaries, witnessed through a study of the spiritual practice and quest for religious tolerance important to Lucia and evident in her art. This thesis reveals those boundaries which were transcended and those which remain negotiable.
Twice filming Lucia Hartini’s art, I was also affected by the dramatically different conditions of production prevailing in 1992 in New Order Indonesia and those possible between 1999 and 2001 during Reformasi. These differences are highlighted in the textual analysis of Perbatasan / Boundaries. Engaging comparisons between contemporary Indonesian art and Indonesian documentary and feature films, I discuss important attempts to solve the problems associated with restrictions on freedom of expression in paintings made prior to Reformasi. I consider the different uses of figurative realism to depict subjects deemed controversial by the state, and the creation of credible representations in art and convincing characterisations in filmmaking. The dramatically real yet poetic work of the Indonesian Neo-realist filmmakers of the 1950s exemplified one such solution. Their films and ideas prompted comparisons with the photo-realism, poetic intent and dramatic juxtapositional image making of the "Surealis Yogya". The relationship I perceive between Neo-realist cinematic practice and contemporary international documentary filmmaking encouraged me to make a documentary about Lucia rather than a purely creative or experimentally surreal work. Because of Reformasi and the changes wrought by Lucia’s personal development, Perbatasan / Boundaries: Lucia Hartini, Paintings from a Life (1999 – 2002) is the documentary which my first short experimental video, Pusaran / Vortex: From the Kitchen to Outer Space (1992 - 1993), made during the New Order, could not be
New chrysilline and aelurilline jumping spiders from Pakistan (Araneae, Salticidae)
No full textEpocilla pakhtunkhwa Ali & Maddison, sp. n. and Stenaelurillus mardanicus Ali & Maddison, sp. n. are described from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. Noted for the first time is the presence in Epocilla of a small bump just anterior to the fovea of the carapace, of unknown functional significance, otherwise known in the unrelated Opisthoncus L. Koch, 1880 and Cocalus Pocock, 1897. In addition, the female of Menemerus nigli Wesołowska & Freudenschuss, 2012 is described for the first time
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