Extrait de la couverture : "Of the numerous available studies on forest management in Asia, only a few mention the role of women or pay attention to gender relations. Even projects are largely designed in terms of households or communities where men are the decision-makers and the owners or managers of forests. This important volume views gender relations as a crucial factor in the management of land and forests, and maintains that the continuing invisibility of women in these areas only compounds poverty, shortages, and the increased workloads of forest-based women. Based on fieldwork conducted in several forest societies in China, Thailand, India and Malaysia, the contributors explore the changes in gender relations within indigenous communities, from matrilineal and/or gender egalitarian systems to ones where male domination is the norm."

Extrait de la couverture : "Of the numerous available studies on forest management in Asia, only a few mention the role of women or pay attention to gender relations. Even projects are largely designed in terms of households or communities where men are the decision-makers and the owners or managers of forests. This important volume views gender relations as a crucial factor in the management of land and forests, and maintains that the continuing invisibility of women in these areas only compounds poverty, shortages, and the increased workloads of forest-based women. Based on fieldwork conducted in several forest societies in China, Thailand, India and Malaysia, the contributors explore the changes in gender relations within indigenous communities, from matrilineal and/or gender egalitarian systems to ones where male domination is the norm."

This enlightening book brings together the work of gender and forestry specialists from various backgrounds and fields of research and action to analyse global gender conditions as related to forests. Using a variety of methods and approaches, they build on a spectrum of theoretical perspectives to bring depth and breadth to the relevant issues and address timely and under-studied themes. Focusing particularly on tropical forests, the book presents both local case studies and global comparative studies from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, as well as the US and Europe. The studies range from personal histories of elderly American women’s attitudes toward conservation, to a combined qualitative / quantitative international comparative study on REDD+, to a longitudinal examination of oil palm and gender roles over time in Kalimantan. Issues are examined across scales, from the household to the nation state and the global arena; and reach back to the past to inform present and future considerations. The collection will be of relevance to academics, researchers, policy makers and advocates with different levels of familiarity with gender issues in the field of forestry.

Across the world women constitute an integral part of the agricultural sector. This volume is based on feminist responses to farming women’s struggle for economic rights and social justice in Asia, and seeks to provide a greater understanding of the development consequences of women’s marginal, limited ownership rights to land and other productive assets. Using comprehensive analyses, quantitative and qualitative data, and case studies from India, China, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and other countries of the Asia-Pacific region, this volume brings together scholars and activists engaged with women’s unmediated entitlement to land and productive assets. While generally taking a position in favour of asset redistribution, the volume addresses two major issues: first, the conflict between legal measures and socio-cultural norms, in a context where laws that seek to secure gender equality and women’s economic empowerment are often overruled by norms that favour men; and second, how changes in the global economy in relation to traditional farming practices have adversely impacted women’s rights, especially in regions where they previously enjoyed more customary rights in asset control and management. The book draws attention to issues of economic security, gender equitable access to resources and asset-building, human rights and law, land-based livelihoods, caste and ethnic diversity, and voices in the women’s movements. This book will be useful to policy makers, civil society organisations, researchers and students of gender and women’s studies, development studies, sociology, economics and agriculture.

Contributed articles presented earlier at a national conference organized by Dept. of History, Tata College during 2-3 March 2005, and sponsored by UGC, Eastern Regional Office.

Contributed articles on Adivasis and their social uprootment in India.

The Naxi is the most interesting ethnic group of China. They have a set of cultural characteristics completely different of those of surrounding peoples. Their pictographic writing, the encyclopedia or archaic wisdom contained in their Dongba classics, their unique religion stressing brotherhood with nature, a life cycle designed to nurture the sacred inside every person, and their special musical, literary and artistic works, all contribute to make the Naxi culture unique among the ethnic groups of our planet. No other ethnic group has preserved so rich and multifaceted ancient heritage, no other culture is so central to the research of the old traditions of Asia. The role of the Naxi as preservers of ancient cultural heritages can be attributed to the isolation of some communities and to the writing of a surprising amount of sacred books, maybe thousands of them treasured in the hands of their religious specialists known to the outside world as the Dongba Classics. The study of Naxi traditions has changed the cultural meaning of the Sino-Tibetan borderlands, with their main elements ranked as intangible cultural heritages, and Lijiang, their main city, recognized as a hub where the main civilizations of East Asia intersected and integrated, creating an original and diverse culture. This is the first book that explains the wonderful culture of the Naxi aimed at the general reader. Its pages lead the reader to the mystery and wisdom of a disappearing world.

This book is a unique intersectional analysis combining culture, gender struggles and structural including economic transformations, both in the formation of gendered class society, patriarchy and capitalism.

This anthology celebrates dancing diversities in Malaysia, a multicultural nation with old and not-so-old dance traditions in a synchronicity of history, creativity, inventions and representation of its people, culture and traditions. These articles and interviews document the legacy of dances from the Malay Sultanates to a contemporary remix of old and new dances aspired by a mélange of influences from the old world of India, China, European and indigenous dance traditions. This gives forth dance cultures that vibrate with multicultural dance experiences. Narratives of eclecticism, syncretic and innovative dance forms and styles reflect the processes of inventing and sharing of dance identities from the era of the colonial Malay states to post-independence Malaysia.