78 research outputs found
Flying High or Lying Low? The Moral Economy of Young Women in Higher Education in Punjab, India
No full textThis chapter explores young women’s participation in higher education as a reflection of changes and challenges to the moral economy currently taking place in the Indian state of Punjab. With its renowned capitalist agricultural development as well as skewed sex ratios against females, we highlight how the metaphorical liking of girls and young women as ‘paraya dhan’ (others’ property) outward bound from the natal ‘nest’ highlights the deepening and extending role of gendered patriarchal norms making women’s education a potential risk to the moral economy of society. Thus, the moral panic surrounding the sex ratio and ‘scarce women’ in Punjab exists within a paradoxically broader moral economy in which potentially threatening impacts of women’s higher education participation to the patriarchal social order are measured up against a deeply patriarchal social and economic base of Punjabi society
Feminism in Literary Dialogue: A Study of two revolutionary women’s memoirs
No full textWomen’s writing whether studied as a pedagogical initiative within the broader inter-disciplinary field of Gender Studies or as a part of the tradition of literary criticism in India; plays an imperative role in theorising Indian feminism.The main aim of this dissertation is to recognize the multi-faceted nature of Indian feminism, and to bridge the gap between academic engagements with feminism and the lives and reflections of activists through their writing. By focusing on the memoirs of revolutionary/communist women, Ajitha and Kondapalli Koteswaramma, I have attempted to highlight the memoir as a form of life-writing within the genre of autobiographies, which expand the concept of ‘feminist archive’ in India. Ajitha’s memoir Kerala’s Naxalbari Ajitha; Memoirs of a young revolutionary and Kondapalli Koteswaramma’s The Sharp Knife of Memory represent the act of self-representation through memoir form.This dissertation analyses each in their own right and then engages the writers in a dialogue that figuratively charts out, contrasts and comparisons, between two voices in terms epistemic positioning, the worldview, political spaces imagined, constructed, and written in the course of their individualist narrative.Using the phenomenological tool of ‘lived experience’ this dissertation attempts to understand their views and understandings of how they were positioned within broader social and political movement and this positioning contributed to the processes and evolution of their respective (feminist) consciousness as revolutionary wome
More Than Just Lines: Bordering Citizenship in Contemporary Assam
No full textThis thesis is a qualitative study that explores borders and bordering practices which have constructed, shaped and continue to reshape the contemporary Indian state of Assam. Using mixed methods including community-based research, the thesis critically examines Assam as a site of bordered citizenship girded by a bordering apparatus with historical antecedents which continue to shape Assam’s present. Drawing on an extensive body of literature which problematises traditional ideas of borders as being purely physical and/or geo-spatial, this thesis argues that conceptualisations of borders and border practices construct Assam as a place of shifting spatial imaginaries, while simultaneously shaping and reshaping it within bounded, bordered logics and technologies of control. Assam reflects multiple shifts in the socio-economic and political demographics of the region. The empirical work of this project builds towards a reconceptualisation of Assam as a space of bordering with multiple layers, including but not limited to the colonial plantation complex, and the legacy of commodity production - namely rice and tea - in the region, labour and migration patterns. A topographical landscape of rivers and valleys shape economic and social practices, and the geopolitical territorial maintenance and surveillance of boundaries surrounding and encompassing Assam over time. As this thesis argues, Assam has been an experimental site of bordering practices, more recently exerted through bounded notions of citizenship, manifested by the implementation of the National Register of Citizens and the Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019. Over time, the Indian state has pushed Assam to the front and centre as well as the peripheries in its experimentation with documentary citizenship. Through an analysis of data collected for this project, the thesis highlights the intersecting nature of class, caste, gender, religion and language dynamics, all of which have variously contributed to the shifts and transformations in bordering practices, and the resultant violence arising therefrom. Finally, the thesis also illustrates individual and community acts of subversion and transgression, which I analyse as acts of ongoing resistant responses. Understanding these dynamics contributes to our understanding of bordering as action and response, at multiple levels and microsites in Assam
“Mulgi shikali, pragati zali”? Reimagining education, development, and progress with rural girls in India
No full textThis thesis critically explores the significance of education in the lives of rural and Adivasi girls in India, situating it within a conceptualisation of education as a double-edged “weapon”. Examining how gender, development, and education orthodoxies collude in the development project of educating marginalised girls in India, my research interrogates assumptions about the “promise” of education to bring about social and economic progress, and instead highlights the ways in which girls’ education is instrumentalised or even weaponised towards the reproduction and maintenance of agendas such as neoliberalism and neocolonialism. Further, through participatory methodologies that centre the voices and experiences of rural and Adivasi girls from the Nashik district of Maharashtra, India, my research considers the structural factors mediating girls’ access to education, the particular subjectivities produced within girls’ educational encounters, and the ways in which girls negotiate, resist, or reimagine these subjectivities to interrupt dominant narratives of education as an unquestioned vehicle towards progress. In doing this, I recast education as simultaneously a weapon of destruction and restructuring linked to historical and ongoing forms of colonisation, as well as a weapon of “de-construction”, enabling us to become aware of as well as deconstruct the structural webs enmeshing us. Centring the voices of marginalised girls who are silenced within development scholarship and policy discourse, my research contributes to critical and feminist epistemologies that push the boundaries of knowledge production. Through this epistemic engagement with girls, the thesis develops “dhadpad” – a Marathi term denoting struggle – as a theoretical lens which disavows the agent/victim binary and makes visible the ongoing negotiations, covert resistances, and collective forms of struggle of rural girls within and against structural limits. Situating this dhadpad in education and other pedagogic processes, this thesis highlights their potential to radically expand dhadpad as well as collectivise it towards shared liberatory goals
Globalisation, neoliberalism and the transformation of higher education in Punjab, India
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Occupational health problems of municipal solid waste management workers in India
No full textPurpose: Occupational health risks are potential negative health effects that one may experience while working. Around the globe, 2.1 billion tonnes of garbage are created annually, and municipal solid waste workers (MSW) or municipal workers often handle this rubbish. They put in a lot of overtime, so managing the garbage generated is not a simple chore. Throughout the waste management process, Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) employees encounter occupational pressures that negatively impact their well-being and lead to a high prevalence of occupational health issues. To protect MSW workers\u27 safety and wellbeing, it is essential to comprehend their work practices and occupational morbidities.Aim: The objective of this research was to evaluate the occupational health issues that municipal solid waste management employees face.Method: In this regard, the research sought to investigate the workplace safety and occupational health practices of MSW employees in Karnataka, India. A cross-sectional descriptive research was carried out among Karnataka, India\u27s solid waste management employees. The research comprised all 408 employees, of whom 313 (77%) took part. Direct interviews and clinical examinations utilising a standardised questionnaire were used to gather data. Clinical examination revealed the observed morbidity, which included nail infections, dermatological issues, ocular disorders, and respiratory ailments. Self-reported complaints and physician diagnoses were used to determine the point prevalence of additional occupationally associated health events that occurred during the study period or during the one-month recall period and that happened after entering the current occupation.Results: 42.5 ± 7.2 years was the average age. The observed morbidity, which varied from 21% to 47%, was substantial and included respiratory, ocular, dermatological, and nail infections. Occupational morbidities such as falls (63.6%), accidents (22%), injuries (73.2%), and aquatic vector-borne diseases (7.1%) were observed to be quite prevalent. All of the main joints are affected by the present prevalence of musculoskeletal morbidities (17–39%).Conclusion: The miserable conditions of employment and high workplace morbidities among MSW workers in Karnataka, India, are highlighted in this research. The MSW personnel found it challenging since the workplace lacked basic facilities. Socioeconomic status, education, and unfavourable working circumstances all contribute to the likelihood of occupational risks. The many health effects that municipal employees experience while working are highlighted in this article. It is necessary to establish a holistic strategy that prioritises the MSW workers\u27 health and safety while including social security. Waste handlers must have access to ergonomically designed protection gear, clean drinking water, and facilities for washing and sanitation throughout working hours in order to enhance their working conditions
Generation and Characterization of Human iPSC-Derived Astrocytes with Potential for Modeling X-Linked Adrenoleukodystrophy Phenotypes
No full textX-adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD) is a peroxisomal metabolic disorder caused by mutations in the ABCD1 gene encoding the peroxisomal ABC transporter adrenoleukodystrophy protein (ALDP). Similar mutations in ABCD1 may result in a spectrum of phenotypes in males with slow progressing adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN) and fatal cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy (cALD) dominating most cases. Mouse models of X-ALD do not capture the phenotype differences and an appropriate model to investigate the mechanism of disease onset and progress remains a critical need. Here, we generated induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines from skin fibroblasts of two each of apparently healthy control, AMN, and cALD patients with non-integrating mRNA-based reprogramming. iPSC lines expanded normally and expressed pluripotency markers Oct4, SOX2, NANOG, SSEA, and TRA-1-60. Expression of markers SOX17, Brachyury, Desmin, OXT2, and beta tubulin III demonstrated the ability of the iPSCs to differentiate into all three germ layers. iPSC-derived lines from CTL, AMN, and cALD male patients were differentiated into astrocytes. Differentiated AMN and cALD astrocytes lacked ABCD1 expression and accumulated saturated very long chain fatty acids (VLCFAs), a hallmark of X-ALD, and demonstrated differential mitochondrial bioenergetics, cytokine gene expression, and differences in STAT3 and AMPK signaling between AMN and cALD astrocytes. These patient astrocytes provide disease-relevant tools to investigate the mechanism of differential neuroinflammatory response in X-ALD and will be valuable cell models for testing new therapeutics
Generation and Characterization of Human iPSC-Derived Astrocytes with Potential for Modeling X-Linked Adrenoleukodystrophy Phenotypes
No full textX-adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD) is a peroxisomal metabolic disorder caused by mutations in the ABCD1 gene encoding the peroxisomal ABC transporter adrenoleukodystrophy protein (ALDP). Similar mutations in ABCD1 may result in a spectrum of phenotypes in males with slow progressing adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN) and fatal cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy (cALD) dominating most cases. Mouse models of X-ALD do not capture the phenotype differences and an appropriate model to investigate the mechanism of disease onset and progress remains a critical need. Here, we generated induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines from skin fibroblasts of two each of apparently healthy control, AMN, and cALD patients with non-integrating mRNA-based reprogramming. iPSC lines expanded normally and expressed pluripotency markers Oct4, SOX2, NANOG, SSEA, and TRA-1–60. Expression of markers SOX17, Brachyury, Desmin, OXT2, and beta tubulin III demonstrated the ability of the iPSCs to differentiate into all three germ layers. iPSC-derived lines from CTL, AMN, and cALD male patients were differentiated into astrocytes. Differentiated AMN and cALD astrocytes lacked ABCD1 expression and accumulated saturated very long chain fatty acids (VLCFAs), a hallmark of X-ALD, and demonstrated differential mitochondrial bioenergetics, cytokine gene expression, and differences in STAT3 and AMPK signaling between AMN and cALD astrocytes. These patient astrocytes provide disease-relevant tools to investigate the mechanism of differential neuroinflammatory response in X-ALD and will be valuable cell models for testing new therapeutics
An Association of Body Composition Components with the Menopausal Status of Patients with Low Back Pain in Tarn Taran, Punjab, India
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