Browsing by discipline "South Asian Studies"

Child labour nowadays has become a pervasive problem all over the world, predominantly in developing countries. About 150 million of children are involved in child labour throughout the world. In South Asia, almost 17 million children between five and seventeen years of age are involved in child labour and 2 million of children are involved in child labour from Nepal. Child labour issue is high among Dalit/lower caste community where one in every three children in Nepal is child laborers and about 1 million children are engaged in hazardous and exploitative activities because of the caste based discrimination and extreme poverty. The Purpose of this research is to identify the reasons behind the lower castes children involved in laborers activities and further studying in details about the sub-caste of lower caste children, their physical working condition in brick kilns, how they are exploited in work and the pulling factors to work precisely in brick kilns. The research was conducted at the brick kilns of Kathmandu valley which consists: Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, and Lalitpur district. The sample size for the research was 60 which was taken from 2brick kilns from each district and from each kiln ten samples were taken, and the purposive sampling method was used. The study is based on questionnaires, interviews, observation, review of literature and reports. Poverty was the major reasons found behind the involvement of lower castes children in labourer’s activities in brick kilns. The second reason is the advance money provided by the owner/naikes of the brick kilns. The third reason is the caste discrimination in the village society where they work and get very less money, or sometimes they have to work without money. The wage in the kiln is based on the quantity i.e. the number of brick produced or the number of brick carried. So, the families who brought their children along with them knowingly or unknowingly involved their children in the work of brick kilns like clay making, carrying bricks, moulding the bricks, domestic works like preparing food, making tea, cleaning dishes and laundry and as well as looking after their younger siblings. Some of the parents send their children to their relatives and neighbour to work in the brick kilns. Being the lower castes children, they are primarily exploited in the labourer’s activities from their household conditions because of the poor economic background of the families and uneducated parents where they couldn't go to school and are compelled to involve in child labour.

In my Master’s Thesis, I analyse matrimonial advertisements published in two newspapers from 2011-12 in order to shed light on how Indian middle-class individuals and families describe their social identity and try to get more resources, “capitals” in Pierre Bourdieu’s terms, through marital alliances. I have two sets of data: one from an English newspaper published in a big metropolitan city and the other from a Hindi language newspaper published in a slightly smaller city, both from North India. I attempt to compare these two sets of data. My research method is qualitative content analysis. The theoretical perspective of this study is based on the different types of capital developed by Pierre Bourdieu. I try to find all the different factors mentioned in the advertisements which can be used as capital in the marriage market and in the other fields where the struggle for social distinction takes place. These factors are used by the advertisers to claim belonging to some groups whilst marking their difference from other groups, and to show that they hold valuable capitals. The families that post matrimonial ads in newspapers have to portray themselves and their candidate (bride or bridegroom) as an opportunity to increase and convert capitals. Education was the most frequently mentioned factor that can be seen to bring status. Everybody should be educated: grooms, brides and even the future parents-in-law. Occupation is not a quality of men only anymore but women too seem to have entered the labour force, especially in the sample from an English language newspaper. Software engineer, doctor, engineer and entrepreneur are some examples of prestigious occupations. Employment in big multinational firms and other reputed private companies is highly valued in today’s society. Descriptions of family status, such as “cultured family” or “respected family”, and parents and siblings’ occupations are frequently listed by the advertisers. The persons living abroad enjoy prestige. Other things that constitute one’s social status include property, caste, families’ social networks, values, lifestyle, religion, ethnic and linguistic group as well as dowries, gifts and lavish weddings.

Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan kahta tekstikokoelma Padma Purāṇaan kuuluvaa mytologista kertomusta meditaatioperinteiden kontekstissa. Tutkimuskysymyksenä on selvittää millaisia yhteyksiä näiden kertomusten ja meditaatioperinteiden väliltä löytyy. Nämä kaksi kertomusta, ”Arjunan toive ja sen täyttyminen” ja ”Nāradan kokemus”, ovat versioita samasta myytistä: siirtymästä Kṛṣṇa-jumaluuden maailmaan ja tämän rakastetuksi tulemisesta taivaallisen gopī-neidon hahmossa. Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavien Rāgānugā-meditaatiossa visualisoidaan samanlainen siirtymä ja hahmonmuutos. Tutkimuksen kohteena olevia kertomuksia vertaillaan etenkin tähän meditaatioperinteeseen. Rāgānugā-meditaatio on myös inspiroinut mytologisia tekstejä, jotka vuorostaan toimivat visualisoinnin apuna meditaatiossa. Samanlaista narratiivien ja meditaatioharjoitteiden interaktiota löytyy myös muualta hindulaisuudesta; usein nämä narratiivit sisältävät meditaatioon ja henkisiin kokemuksiin liittyviä metaforia. Näitä metaforia voidaan löytää myös tämän tutkimuksen kohteena olevista tarinoista. Tutkimusmenetelmänä on käytetty historiallis-kriittistä metodia sekä lähiluku-menetelmää. Lähdemateriaalina on käytetty sekä sanskritin- että englanninkielistä versiota teksteistä. Teoreettisena pohjana kertomusten ja meditaatioharjoitteiden välisten yhteyksien tarkastelulle toimivat mm. Lauri Hongon (1972,1984) teoriat myytin ja rituaalin suhteesta.