http://hdl.handle.net/10027/7190 Thu, 23 May 2013 06:44:53 GMT 2013-05-23T06:44:53Z http://hdl.handle.net/10027/9820 Islamic Feminism in India: Indian Muslim Women Activists and the Reform of Muslim Personal Law Vatuk, Sylvia I describe here a nascent ‘Islamic feminist’ movement in India, dedicated to the goal of achieving gender equity under Muslim Personal Law. In justifying their demands, these women activists refer neither to the Indian Constitution nor to the universalistic human rights principles that guide secular feminists campaigning for passage of a gender-neutral uniform civil code of personal law, but rather to the authority of the Qur’an—which, they claim, grants Muslim women numerous rights that in practice are routinely denied them. They accuse the male ‘ulama of foisting ‘patriarchal’ interpretations of the Qur’an on the unlettered Muslim masses and assert their right to read the Qur’an for themselves and interpret it in a woman-friendly way. Their activities reflect an increasing ‘fragmentation of religious authority’ in the globalizing Muslim world, associated with the spread of mass education, new forms of media and transport and a mobile labour force, in which clerical claims to exclusive authoritative knowledge are being questioned by a wide variety of new voices, women’s among them. Whether it can ultimately succeed is an open question but the movement is clearly having an impact, even on the clerical establishment itself, insofar as the legal issues it considers most pressing for women are concerned. Modern Asian Studies 42,2/3(2008) pp. 489–518. © 2007 Cambridge University Press doi:10.1017/S0026749X07003228 Tue, 01 Jan 2008 06:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10027/9820 2008-01-01T06:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10027/9491 Maya Socio-Political Interaction and Domestic Architecture in the Petexbatun, Guatemala The nature of ancient Maya political organization has long been debated. Recently, a focus on specific social and political interactions has been utilized to better characterize classic Maya political strategies. This research sought to analyze the nature of socio-political interaction between an intrusive Mutul dynasty and the local lords and population of the Petexbatun region of Guatemala in the Late Classic Period (A.D. 600-830). Three main avenues of investigation were used: hieroglyphic texts, ceramic data sets, and regional domestic architectural styles (both local and introduced). All known hieroglyphic texts associated with the region were analyzed for evidence of social and political interactions. A program of survey and excavation of ancient rural settlement between the power centers of Aguateca and Tamarindito was conducted and the distribution of architectural styles determined. Domestic ceramic assemblages resulting from these and previous investigations were examined for local and introduced characteristics. Little evidence for directed settlement was found, but some local emulation of Mutul elite architecture was implied. Preliminary results suggest that strategies employed by Mutul lords in the region, although varied, were predominantly indirect and perhaps exclusionary in nature. Further investigation is warranted. Thu, 13 Dec 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10027/9491 2012-12-13T06:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10027/9252 Effects of Female Gene Flow and Effective Population Size on Old and New World Mitochondrial DNA Patterns The goal of this dissertation project is to examine the effects of female gene flow and female effective population size on mtDNA variation. I examined 1) whether the Aymara and Bantu expanded mainly through spatial expansion by incorporating female migrants from other ethnic groups or through demographic expansion due to increased female fertility rates, 2) whether female gene flow or effective population size had the greater effect on mtDNA within-population genetic diversity, and 3) the extent to which kinship structure affected the importance of each factor. The results of the analyses suggest rapid demographic expansion best explains Aymara population expansion. Female gene flow was also an important factor influencing mtDNA variation in Central Andeans as well as western South America, but female gene flow had a much greater impact on mtDNA variation among east African Bantu populations. The east African Bantu populations interacted extensively with neighboring non-Bantu populations. As a result, the east African Bantus became genetically more diverse and similar to some non-Bantu east Africans. Closer examination of the impact of female gene flow and effective population size reveals that female gene flow affects within-population genetic diversity measurements and genetic models that do not account for population subdivision and gene flow are poor fits to the observed mtDNA data. In addition, kinship structure is an important cultural practice that affects the patterns and intensity of female gene flow and is a good predictor of within-population genetic diversity and population subdivision. In conclusion, this dissertation project shows that female effective population is an important factor, but female gene flow had a great impact on mtDNA variation among Latin Americans and Bantus affecting their within-population genetic diversity and patterns of population subdivision. Mon, 10 Dec 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10027/9252 2012-12-10T06:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10027/9240 Friction and Flow in a Dominican Tourist Town Drawing on archival and internet research, informational interviews, in-depth participant observation, and informant photo essays, this dissertation examines the shifts that globalization—the reshaping of borders in an expanding capitalist world market—is introducing to the diverse inhabitants, both cosmopolitans and those who lack access to the formal economy, of a Dominican tourist town. It also examines the state “from below” in analyzing the effects and processes of statecraft (the placement of people, the selective application of its laws and policing, etc.) in an environment that privileges the “flows” of finance capital. This work appropriates French sociologist Henri Lefebvre’s place-based dialectical categories of abstract (hegemonic) and differential space to highlight the importance of place-making amidst global flows. It then applies this theory to sites of conflict which include contentious and productive negotiations around informal labor economies and land ownership among a diverse set of subjects from Haitian moneylenders and Dominican sex workers to European “perpetual travelers” and cruise ship tourists. I conclude with some final thoughts about the ongoing dialectic of power relationships that constitute borderwork and sociospatial segregation. In tracking the perception of vulnerability and empowerment for various social actors in this emerging space dominated by tourism development, I demonstrate how borders around race, nation, gender, and citizenship strengthen and weaken in relation to experienced degrees of friction and flow. Mon, 10 Dec 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10027/9240 2012-12-10T06:00:00Z