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The Kurdish question as a consequence of the rise and development of the modern nation states in the Middle East and West Asia since the early decades of the 20th century has drawn the attention of scholars of the social and political sciences
. Over the last two decades, thhe number of academic works devoted to analysis of various aspects has seen as unprecedented increase. This book tries to provide an analysis of the formation of Kurdistan and the way that it has been represented in the nationalist ideologies of the modern nation states that govern the Kurds (ie Turkey, Iraq and Iran)
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This book presents results from cooperative research between the University of Bergen, Norway, and Tribhuvan University, Nepal, funded by the Norwegian government from 2002 to 2006
. The research focused on one of the most remote parts of Nepal—Manang—tucked away against the border with China/Tibet in central Nepal.
The book is divided into four parts, which illustrate the breadth of topics explored during the research program:
- Productivity and Livelihood,
- Culture and Ethnicity,
- Vegetation and Forest, and
- Medicinal Plants and Ethnomedicine.
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The book "Himalayan Households, Tamang Demography and Domestic Process written by Tomes E
. Fricke is about the depth and massive study of mountain adaption toward an anthropological framework for population research within the human ecological perspective. It analyzes the trend in anthropological demography on the basis of mountainous adaptation and changes within them are among the central issues of concern in anthropology
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The Tra Vinh education project was designed to help the Department of Education and Training (DOET) to scale up child centred learning methodology (CCM) from October 2006 for two years
. The programme aimed to improve equal access to quality education for disadvantaged children, especially girls and ethnic minorities, with a focus on increasing numbers of primary school teachers. The purpose of this final evaluation was to review implementation, outcomes and lessons learnt, and compare these with original targets in order to make recommendations for Tra Vinh DOET in expanding CCM and to feed into effective OGB CCM programmes in the future
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This review is of H Jonsson's book on Mien Relations: Mountain people and state control in Thailand,buplished by Ithaca NY and London: Cornell University Press 2005
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Although focused on Thailand, this book applies cultural and ethnographic approaches to explaining how one ethnic group in Thailand has shaped its identity in the face of modernity and increasing state control. It argues that this ethnic group is not being ‘swept away’ by outside forces; nor is it clinging to romanticized images of its past. Rather, people can both modernize and hold onto their identity through various complex means.
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The world?s mountains cover about one-fourth of the planet?s land surface and are home to 10 percent of its population
. They are a sanctuary for an extraordinary web of plant and animal life and a source of water for all of the world?s major rivers. Yet, mountain people ? the guardians of these valuable mountain resources ? are among the world?s poorest, hungriest and most marginalized populations. Indeed, many of the more than 800 million chronically undernourished people in the world today live in mountain areas. In some cases, their food insecurity is a consequence of population growth, which often has a harder impact on poverty in mountainous regions because of the fragility of these regions? natural resources. In others, periods of hunger arise as mountain farmers abandon traditional farming practices for methods that are unsustainable on mountain terrain. One of the greatest causes of poverty and hunger in mountain regions is the chaos created by armed conflict. In 1999, 23 of the 27 major armed conflicts in the world were being fought in mountain regions. Where there is armed conflict, people cannot carry out fundamental life-sustaining tasks, such as planting and harvesting crops. Where mines are laid, agricultural lands must be left barren until expensive mine clearance can be undertaken, typically many years later. Roads, schools and other infrastructure are destroyed, halting economic development. And, of course, the death, injuries and emotional trauma of armed conflict devastate individual lives and national advancement
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Reveiw of: Cross, J P; 2000, The Throne of Stone
. Mandala Book Point, Kathmandu, Nepal.
The throne of stone, depicted clearly on the cover photograph of the book under review, is a very large flat stone on a mountain top, slightly raised one end. It is an unusual stone that generations of ancient Tura - known today as Dura - chieftains or rulersof Turlung in the Lamjung district of west Nepal, sanctified by tradition and rite as the ruler of the Tura people during the pre-unification days were crowned. According to tradition, the chief or ruler of the Tura tribe or community would anoint vermilion powder on his forehead. All subjects would then come and pay homage
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Review of Ramirez, P; 2000: De la disparition des chefs: Une anthropologie politique Népalaise
. Collection Monde Indien, Paris.
Nepali intellectuals from the dominant Parbatiya, Bahun-Chetri or Indo-Nepalese group often complain that foreign anthropologists are only interested in the minority 'tribals' nowadays known by the epithet janajati. This is not true: ethnographic monographs on the Parbatiyas written by Westerners include several that are among the very best written on Nepal, including little-known and unrecognised classics (little known and unrecognised outside Himalayan classicists that is) such as Lynn Bennett's Dangerous Wives and Sacred Sisters (1983, Colombia University Press) and Linda Stone's Illness and Feeding the Dead in Hindu Nepal: An Ethnographic Analysis (1988, E Mellon Press). What is true is that if one subscribes to an ethnographic law of proportional representation, whereby Parbatiyas should have 40% of the ethnography written about them because they constitute 40% of the population, then it is probably true that the Parbatiyas suffer from under-representation. On the other hand, they are far less under-represented than many other groups, especially those in the Tarai or low-status ones such as Parbatiya Untouchables
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Book review: Vinding, Michael; 1998, The Thakali: A Himalayan Ethnography
. Serinda Publications, London, UK.
As the author himself notes, the Thakali are the most studied group in Nepal. They have been dealt with by both foreign and native scholars and even a number of Thakali have written accounts about themselves. The quest for the Thakali started as early as 1873. Since then, they have been been the object of scholarly workby Japanese, French, English, Danish, German, Swiss and American researchers. Many M.A.s and at least four Ph.D. degrees (including that of the author himself) have been based on Thakali materials. More than a 100 articles and four books have already been published on this group. That so many foreigners are moved to do research on Thakali subjects is itself an interesting question. My own view is that there is an overemphasis on this group and caste groups within Nepal have been unfortunately ignored and this has implications for our understanding of the totality of the human and cultural diversity of our country
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Bickel, B; Gaenszle, M; eds 1999, Himalayan Space: Cultural Horizons and Practices
. Volkerkundemuseum Zurish, Zurich, Switzerland.
Getting anthropologists and linguists to contribute articles for a shared volume can be as risky as asking genetically close but socially estranged cousins to have dinner together. Whilst both the academics and the cousins might have a great deal in common, something appears to have gone sour at an early stage in their relationship, and attempts at dialogue may be strained to say the least. Given these challenges, the achievement of Balthasar Bickel and Martin Gaenszle in editing Himalayan Space: Cultural Horizons and Practices is all the more impressive. In this well-conceived and beautifully designed collection, Bicket and Gaenszle have gathered together seven essays by accomplished scholars working with various Tibeto-Burman ethnic groups in Nepal. The essays range from the anthropologically linguistic to the linguistically anthropological, and the quality of the writing demonstrates that the contributors have a deep understanding of both the theoretical issues of their discipline and notable respect for the ethnic communities with which they work. Although each of the seven contributions deals with a different feature of one of the groups making up Nepal's ethnic mosaic, they all address "the question of how notions of space and landscape find expression in Himalayan cultural traditions, languages and practices"
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