Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Gujarâti'

Kavi Dayarambhai or Dayaram (1777-1852), considered to be one of the three greatest poets of Gujarati, brought to an end not only the age of the great bhakta-poets, but also the age of Gujarati medieval literature. After Dayaram, a new age of Gujarati literature and language began, influenced by Western education and thinking. The three chapters of Part I of the thesis look at the ways of approaching North Indian devotional literature which have informed all subsequent readings of Dayaram in the hundred and fifty years since his death. Chapter 1 is concerned with the treatment by Indologists of the Krsnaite literature in Braj Bhasa, which forms a significant part of Dayaram's literary antecedents. Chapter 2 then considers studies of Dayaram by Gujarati scholars which tend to focus on him as a devotee of Krsna and a member of the Pustimarga. It also looks at literary criticism of his writings in the context of the Gujarati literary world. Chapter 3 discusses Dayaram's lyrics from an Indological perspective, concentrating on form and language. Part II puts forward a new approach to a study of Dayaram's lyrics. Chapter 4 argues that these texts deserve treatment as literary texts in their own right and suggests a reading informed by the thought of Mikhail Bakhtin (1895- 1975). Chapter 5 discusses Dayaram's lyrics in the light of Bakhtin's concept of the camivalesque, Chapter 6 looks at the functions of chronotopic features in the lyrics. Part III is a selection of Dayaram's lyrics. The Gujarati texts are given in Roman transliteration, followed by literal translations into English. A full bibliography of primary and secondary sources consulted is included. The thesis introduces a poet scarcely known to western scholars and makes a selection of his work available to those who do not know Gujarati. It examines a number of approaches which have conventionally been brought to bear on literature of this kind. It finds much which is valuable in them but highlights some of their limitations for a study of this poet; a new critical approach from literary theory, using the ideas of Bakhtin (in particular those of the carnivalesque and the chronotope) allows the thesis to re-examine the position of Dayaram in the history of Gujarati literature.

This thesis is about the pregnancy and childbirth experiences of two different groups of Asian women in Britain. It sets out to address the issues surrounding pregnancy and childbirth from the women's point of view. This is an attempt to redress the balance in the previous research on Asian women which has often portrayed them as a homogeneous group with "problems`. An overview of the literature focuses on how Asian communities and, in particular, Asian women are portrayed. In order to provide a context for the issues which emerge in this research, attention is paid, first, to how Asian communities and, in particular Asian women, are viewed by mainstream society and, second, to cultural attitudes towards the sexual politics of reproduction. The main theme of the research is the degree of control the women were able to exercise given the constraints of western medicalised childbirth practices in Britain, traditional childbirth practices and the role played by the women`s relatives during pregnancy and childbirth. The study draws on in-depth interviews (during and after pregnancy) with two samples of Asian women- the first Gujarati, the second Bangladeshi. In addition, two Gujarati case studies and two Bangladeshi case studies provide further insights into the lives of these two groups of women. The women's perceptions of their experiences of pregnancy and childbirth are emphasised by the use of the actual quotes which give some indication of the way these women conceptualised the issues which confronted them. The final chapter of the thesis concludes with a discusses of the position of Asian women within the current childbirth debate and makes suggestions for improving the delivery of maternity services to the Gujarati and Bangladeshi women in particular and to Asian women in general.

This thesis is a study of Gujarati women and children living in the North London Borough of Harrow. It addresses the issues concerning women in the household, that include their relations with other kin and wider networks, caring for children, feeding, and protecting them from evil influences, and their key involvement in ritual practice. Men as husbands, fathers, uncles and grandfathers are also discussed. Children's involvement in ritual from birth, or even before, is addressed and the way they make sense of the world through multiple carers. Households were studied using the methods of participant observation and in-depth, taped, unstructured interviews. Different caste groups, religions and social classes were included in the study group, but the majority were Hindu, and a few Jain. Muslim households were excluded because they represented less than 10% of the Harrow population and would have made the study too broad. Data obtained from a three-month period of research in Ahmedabad, informed the Harrow data, but a direct comparison was not made. The theme of moral continuity emerged from the data as a central concern for Hindu and Jain households. This was linked to kinship ties, respect for elders, obligations, religious festivals and rituals. The joint household remains popular and many younger people are learning Gujarati, practising rituals and asking for arranged `introduction' marriages. Family `rules' which have been followed through many generations are followed in respect to festivals, life-cycle rituals of childhood, warding off the evil eye and what foods to eat. Childhood is a time of purity when children are thought to be close to the gods, requires special consideration, especially when it comes to food, and milk may be thought to be the safest option. Children live in a network of interdependency with other kin and through rituals participate in a world that respects the hierarchy of the household and wider Gujarati `community'. Western influences of toys, peers and the educational system are acknowledged at various points. In conclusion, a sense of being Gujarati is still held by individuals today in Britain. Continuity of moral codes is achieved through ritual practice, which is transformed over time, links with the ancestors and gives a sense of belonging to 'one of us'.

This thesis uses a mixed methods approach to investigate the different levels of Hindu-Muslim violence in Gujarat (western India) in 2002 when at least a thousand Muslims were killed. An original dataset of killings is compiled to analyse macrospatial variation in the violence across towns and rural areas of Gujarat. Data collected from 21 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Ahmedabad city is used to investigate microspatial variation across three neighbourhoods with varying levels of violence.Macrospatial analysis discusses the link between political authority and its capacity to instigate ethnic violence as a response to electoral calculations and identifies the mechanisms by which violence against Muslims was orchestrated by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Ethnographic findings demonstrate the importance of ecological strategies adopted by attackers and targets during the course of attack and urge a re-examination of the intuitive association of spatial proximity with greater interethnic contact. Findings also reveal methods of enforcement used by legitimate and illegitimate institutions of a peaceful slum neighbourhood in resolving commitment problems of cooperation. Finally, the thesis examines the aftermath of the violence, more specifically a political phenomenon of Muslims of Gujarat supporting the BJP nine years after the brutal violence.Methodologically, the main contribution of this thesis is in bridging the quantitative and ethnographic traditions in the sociology of ethnic violence to make possible the linking, and disentangling, of macrolevel risk factors associated with violence from microlevel factors. Findings of the thesis hopefully provide a better understanding of ethnic violence in multi-ethnic democracies and a roadmap of policy-making for India as it continues to struggle with ethnic strife.

This study examined Gujarati and Caucasian patients with RA, with respect to disease activity, genetic factors, treatment, socioeconomic and psychological status.;61 Gujarati and 61 Caucasian subjects underwent a structured interview, including detailed social history, disease history, drug history, pain on VAS, HAQ, WHO Self Reporting Questionnaire, list of Threatening Life Events and an examination including a swollen joint count.;Caucasian patients had higher swollen joint counts (10.39 vs. 8.07, p=0.05), more nodulosis (46% vs. 16%, p=0.0005) and more sero-positivity for RF (66% vs. 45%, p=0.02). Gujaratis had longer EMS (1.36 hrs vs. 0.86 hrs, p=0.03), greater pain on VAS (5.1 vs. 3.7, p=0.0008) and greater disability on HAQ (1.9 vs. 1.2, p=0.0001). Gujaratis had an earlier age of onset (42.0 yrs vs. 46.3 years, p=0.01). There were no differences in DMARD therapy, but Gujaratis perceived their treatment to be less effective (p=0.0009). 76% of patients had tried complementary therapies.;Gujarati patients had a lower frequency of HLA DRB1 shared epitope (0.77 vs. 1.12 copies/patient, p=0.01). Caucasians expressed HLA DRB1*04 (37% vs. 12%, p=0.001) and DRB1*01 (15% vs. 1% p=0.0007). Gujaratis expressed HLA DRB1*10 (21% vs. 3%, p=0.0009).;59% Gujaratis were not working because of ill health, compared with 31% Caucasians. Gujaratis had a larger social network (3.15 vs. 1.89, p=0.0004) and more social services support (75% vs. 54%, p=0.01). 44% Gujarati patients were vegetarian, and few dark or smoked. Gujarati patients were significantly depressed (9.44 vs. 5.16 on SRQ, p<0.0001), and ethnicity was an independent risk factor for depression (p<0.0005) when other variables were adjusted for.;Ethnicity was an independent predictor for disability (p=0.001) despite adjusting for markers of disease severity and activity. Asian patients had an odds ratio of 8.20 (p=0.006) of having a HAQ >=2. Ethnicity was not a predictor for SJC.

A pragmatic qualitative approach located within the research tradition of retrospective accounts was adopted and the perspectives of different types of carers, caring at home were obtained. The views of primary health care nurses were sought to examine their perspectives of caring for minority ethnic carers and the views of health service managers sought to examine their views about how primary health care nurses provide support for carers. A total of 43 in-depth interviews were conducted. A fieldwork diary was kept throughout the study and the data were analysed using a framework approach. The findings identified that despite policy intentions that health services should meet carers' needs and emphasis on the need for partnership, there was little evidence of this. Rather, Gujarati Hindu carers were not supported because primary health care nurses adopted a restricted model of the `patient-centred' approach to caring and failed to fully involve carers in holistic assessment. This subsequently affected their ability to access information, overcome communication difficulties and their need for emotional support. The interviews with primary health care nurses confirmed carers' claims of being unsupported. Primary health care nurses focused their attention on patients and viewed carers' needs as secondary. Health service managers also endorsed this view. An explanatory model is developed. It shows that socio-economic factors, carers' general material disadvantage, lack of awareness about service provision, coupled with primary health care nurses' lack of recognition of the need for support, compounded further by institutional racism and structural issues in the health services all served to disadvantage carers.

This research seeks to explore cultural explanations of educational achievement of Gujarati children of junior school age. Chapter one establishes the multicultural education context of the research. In the second chapter, researches relating to the Gujarati communities in Britain are reviewed. The third chapter is concerned with development of a deductive theory on the basis of a set of propositions. These propositions encapsulate findings from research as well as theoretical insights into the educational achievement of Asian children. The chapter ends with a series of hypotheses about socialisation and cultural experiences of the pupils in the family and their achievement in school as well as about 'stress' between home and school. The fourth chapter entitled The Research Procedures provides an account of instrumentation undertaken in the light of the discussions in the previous chapters. The instrumentation is in the form of grids consisting of a matrix of ten constructs and twelve elements and relate to Achievement, Culture and Curriculum. The chapter also includes a description of the independent variables constructed from the grids. Explanations are also provided for the bases for the selection of statistical techniques used. The results of various statistical analyses form the subject matter of the following three chapters entitled Discussion of Results (Chapter Five), Achievement, Culture, and Curriculum (Chapter Six), and 'Deviant Cases' (Chapter Seven) respectively. Regression analyses are used to test the deductive theory. The findings indicate that the deductive theory is not supported by the evidence. Indscal analyses are used to derive salient dimensions in groups with regard to achievement, culture and the curriculum, which are described in Chapter Six. The grids for six 'deviant cases' are analysed individually using principal components analysis in order to gain further understanding of the results. This analysis highlights certain characteristics of high achieving and low achieving pupils. These are presented in Chapter Seven. The final chapter, entitled Retrospect and Prospect (Chapter Eight), provides a discussion of triangulation in theory and method to increase the utility of deductive theories and as an aid in further development of 'middle range' theories. The chapter ends with suggestions for further research.

Immigration policy and tradition dovetail in their impact on the social organization of immigrant communities, linking the material and non-material aspects of gender. I focus on Asian Indian Patels, who dominate the budget motel business in the United States. I conducted semi-structured interviews with Patel men, women, and teenagers. I stayed overnight in the motels to observe families at work. I was almost always invited to prepare and share a meal, so I observed families at home. My analysis is based on transcribed interviews with participants, fieldnotes, observations, community publications, and information from three key contacts. Most Patels enter the U.S. under family reunification rules in a chain migration. These rules do not recognize families as labor; therefore a majority of documented immigrants are exempt from labor certification. Traditions define Patel women as housewives. The nature of motel work allows women to contribute their labor full-time and still remain housewives: they are not recognized as workers. Community financing and family labor, both escapes from the market economy, allow for the economic success of Patels. When families take on subsequent links in the chain migration, they must meet the costs of migration for new immigrants, and maintain traditional gender hierarchy. When they are the last link in the chain, there is a challenge to this hierarchy. In the second generation, when they remain in the motel business, Patels maintain traditional gender hierarchy. When either partner is linked to the labor market, there is a challenge to traditional gender hierarchy.
Ph. D.

This thesis explores the ways in which the Gujarati communities come to understand, experience and conceptualise ‘mental health’. These were explored under the following categories: social, cultural, economic and institutional. Ethnic inequalities and ‘mental health’ have been widely researched but explanations can provide a distorted picture for particular communities (Raleigh, 1995). Published information on measuring rates of inequalities focus use of services and wide categories such as ‘South Asians’ can be misleading in health research (Nazroo et al., 2002). Not only are current epidemiological studies problematic with the categories they utilise to group people together, but also using the medical model to define ‘mental health’ as an universally applied term indeed has its’ pitfalls. The major one that is inherent to this thesis is the complex relationship culture and social factors has in contributing to understandings of ‘mental health’ and how they are managed. Therefore, the crux of this thesis explores practices and beliefs the Gujarati communities have that help ‘mental health’ management but also their limitations that constrain and restrict help-seeking from western health services. This research is informed by two key phenomena and the complex relationship between the two – ‘mental health’ and culture. There is an exploration of social processes such as culture and the range of identity and historical factors such as migration, family, social capital and religion to name a few. A Bourdieusian analytical framework is used, in particular his forms of capital; social, cultural and economic to illustrate how culture influences conceptualisations, experiences and management of ‘mental health’ and how culture contributes to the complexity that cuts across the universality/specificity binary of addressing ‘mental health’. Qualitative interviews with the Gujarati communities in Leicester were used to explore these issues. 35 interviews were conducted with first-generation Gujarati migrants and 15 were conducted with second generation Gujarati migrants. These were all recorded, analysed using various thematic analytical techniques, analytic induction and cognitive mapping. It is argued that, strong forms of social and cultural capital contribute to and strengthen cultural opinions of mental illness as ‘mad’, ‘crazy’ and ‘slow’. Thus, these attitudes and understandings are lived realities for the Gujarati communities. However, it is also strong forms of social capital that contribute to potential ‘mental health’ problems due to the pressure of ‘social obligations’. This entails, behaving in a certain manner that abides to and maintains acceptable norms in the Gujarati communities. Consequently, social and cultural capital are underlying factors that explain the stigmatized nature of ‘mental health’ and their help-seeking trajectories. Additionally, the empirical data from my interviews has begun to demonstrate that attitudes towards ‘mental health’ are not as simple as being educated about it but rooted deeply in social and cultural practices, beliefs and traditions. Rightly so, Dogra et al. (2005) argues conceptualisations and expressions of ‘mental health’ can vary across cultures and thus these need to be considered when looking at ethnic groups. Additionally, due to the changing nature of cultures, continuous research is required to uphold suitable treatment and support for ‘mental health’. Therefore, I argue that research that informs policy in this area, such as cultural components of ‘mental health’ needs to be inductive rather than deductive in nature.

This study examines the meaning of home for 19 Hindu Gujarati immigrant women living in the Montreal suburban municipality of Dollard-des-Ormeaux. Adopting a qualitative approach, this study redefines home as a multiple and dynamic concept, referring not only to the house but also the homeland, neighbourhood, cultural community and even the abstract feeling of belonging or being 'at home.' While this study concentrates on the women's present homes and neighbourhoods, the idea of the home as being reinvented across a variety of spaces and social relationships is a central theme. Home-making is argued to be an evolving social process that begins in the childhood and marital homes in India and continues with the transition into new homes in Montreal. The house and home spaces (the neighbourhood and cultural community) are sites where multiple dimensions of the women's identities are given a voice and reinvented. The women define the character of the home spaces, and also negotiate culture, ethnicity and identity within them. Through the construction of hybrid cultural identities, the women are able to make themselves and their families 'at home' between cultures. This study points to complex and sometimes paradoxical meanings of home, and emphasizes the significance of the suburban, rather than inner city, quality of home-making and adaptation processes among immigrant women in Montreal.

This thesis explores representations of culture amongst the prolific twice-displaced Gujarati East African diaspora in Britain. I argue that the paucity of fictional literatures written about, or by, this community demonstrate that the ‘double diaspora’ often favour forms of embodied narrative. Using the literary critical interpretive practices of close reading, I thus analyse a range of cultural ‘texts’. Through this approach of investigating both the written text alongside the nontextual embodied narrative, the thesis broadens the remit of literary studies and subsequently addresses a lacuna in scholarship on cultural representations of the ‘double diaspora’. Whilst the thesis intervenes in contemporary literary postcolonial debate, interdisciplinary connections between diverse disciplines, such as performance, trauma and diaspora studies, are established. Following my introduction, the thesis is divided into three main chapters: each considers a form of embodied cultural representation significant to the migrant who has been displaced from India to Britain, via East Africa. Beginning with Yasmin Alibhai-Brown’s The Settler’s Cookbook – one of the few examples of a written representation of twice-migrant culture – I explore culinary practices as a mode of individuated and collective identity articulation. In my third chapter, I develop my argument to read the Gujarati dances of dandiya-raas and garba, played during the Hindu festival of Navratri. Finally, before concluding, the fourth chapter moves to explore visual materials gathered from personal kinship networks. In identifying embodied narratives as significant to the double diaspora, my thesis uncovers the performance of complex and multiple selfhoods and collectivities within this community. Whilst there are instances of a surprising convergence of modern and traditional identities, there is too the emergence of an Indian national identity, which is complicated by regional Gujaratiness. In closing, I propose a Gujarati East African vernacular modernity, which demonstrates how this progressdriven diaspora simultaneously looks in two directions.

Studies of marriage and sexuality in India have generally focused on girls or women and although men are central to these relationships, they are often ignored. This thesis concentrates on this gap in the literature and focuses on how masculinities are shaped by the negotiation of love and sexuality, particularly in pre-­‐marital relationships. The few studies of masculinity that do exist have typically focused on urban men, whereas the focus of this thesis is on marginalised men in rural central Gujarat. For men, life stages and rites of passage are a significant feature governing their lives and aspirations, and so how these are negotiated within the secrecy of pre-­‐ marital relationships in contrast, and conflict, with a public normative discourse of marriage is a defining feature of this thesis. This research contributes to a better understanding of the different discourse and practice that men utilise in their approach to pre-­‐marital relationships and how this reflects divergent attitudes towards women and notions of love and sexuality. The thesis is based on ten months of ethnographic fieldwork alongside the conducting of 38 interviews with men from the Muslim, Christian and Tadpada communities. The analysis highlights the significance of male peer solidarity that exists during a liminal period of relative freedom for young men during the transition between adolescence and the responsibilities of marriage and manhood. Pre-­‐marital relationships are framed as transgressive within a public normative discourse; in actuality multiple performances of sexuality are presented by young men dependent on context and audience. The consequences of discovery for transgressive relationships are typically discussed in terms of their effects on female transgressors, yet this research aims to explore the consequences that such a discovery has upon young men, particularly in relation to the distinctive, yet inter-­‐related, notions of credit and honour.

This is an ethnographic study which examines the way in which some Gujarati women living in east London create auspiciousness and care for the ritual, spiritual, social and moral well-being of their natal and conjugal households. Fieldwork was conducted in four local women's groups and in Hindu Gujarati households in the north and central areas of the London borough of Newham between July 1983 and September 1984. Additional data come from tape-recorded interviews and observations between Gujarati women and obstetricians at the local maternity hospital. Informants of both sexes acknowledged that it is women who are the agents with knowledge of many of the domestic rituals which are performed and that it is largely women who organize them. Both sexes also see women as responsible for transmitting this religious and Gujarati ritual knowledge to the next generation. This responsibility is spoken of as the dharma (duty) of women and of mothers in particular. The study addresses the question of how gender defines cultural constructions of responsibility. It considers ways in which notions of dharma (duty) and seva (service) inform ideas of femininity and masculinity, and suggests that gender inequalities are created through interpretations of cultural notions of sharam (shame), ijjat (honour) and man (respect). Within this framework, it examines the way in which informants create, negotiate and resist cultural categories. In their active responses, they both challenge and collude in dominant structures and discourses. This dissertation aims to contribute to research on the hitherto largely neglected arena of domestic religious life among Hindus in Britain. Specifically, it aims to contribute to studies of the role of Hindu Gujarati women in caring for households and families and maintaining and transforming their culture in this country.

This historical investigation involves reflective artistic practice concerning the visual culture of Gujarati Indians who left India at the beginning of the twentieth century, settled initially in Africa and then England in the 1960s. I examine the migration through the tailoring of garments and in collage and sculpture. This critiques conventional ethnographic undervaluing of postcolonialism’s dialectic of celebration and trauma.

This thesis examines the settlement of Gujaratis in Harrow, London, and the evolution of Gujarati organisations during the 1970s and the 1980s. Most Harrow Asians settled in the Borough after 1972, following their expulsion from Uganda. The Asian community, therefore, is predominantly East African and the majority of Asians originate from the Indian state of Gujarat. Gujaratis were not welcomed in Harrow, yet the Borough could not prevent Asian immigrants from settling in this part of London. The proximity of Harrow to large Asian settlements in north London made it attractive to the more established immigrants. The first years of settlement were mainly dedicated to building a firm economic base, and Gujaratis established, during the 1970s, various associations that complemented their economic activity during the 1970s. Some associations were founded on traditional lines. These were mainly caste and religious associations, which were also the most resourceful in financial and human terms. The affiliation of Gujaratis to different caste associations created serious rivalries with the consequence that the Gujarati community in Britain has remained divided. In Harrow, rivalries have emerged within the Asian community as a result of a growing competition for scarce resources. During the 1980s, Harrow Council declared itself an equal opportunities employer and, by this act, has raised the expectations of Asians that the Borough would be more responsive to their needs. Several pressure groups have emerged, and Gujaratis played a major role in exerting pressure on the Council. Though some Gujarati activists were equally active in traditional associations, the intensification of the relationships with the Council assisted in the emergence of a new type of leadership, comprised Gujaratis who identified themselves as black and who adopted the ideological framework of institutional racism. Although the thesis is about the settlement in Harrow of this community, the original interest of the researcher was focused on the food habits of this population as a method of measuring acculturation. Fieldwork on this subject was conducted both in Harrow and India. The thesis ends, therefore, with a description of the Gujarati diet both in Britain and India, with an analysis of the significance of the changes that have taken place in this area.

This ethnographic study traces the ageing process as conditioned by the migration experience, and the social, economic and cultural backgrounds of Gujarati and Sikh women in London. This research was conducted amongst women of the two communities who frequented various Asian organizations and places of worship in Wood Green, Wembley and Southall in London. The data were collected through unstructured interviews. The essential experiences which condition the lives of informants include their migratory history, their residential patterns, the perceived threat from western morality, concern for their cultural identity, and actual and perceived racism. These experiences have demanded various adjustments from Indian women, such as the need to go out of their houses to work. They have to face changes in ideas about masculinity, femininity and authority, balancing their expectations (based on the ideal Indian world) with practicalities of life in London. In the absence of wider familial kin networks they need to rely on other strategies of social contact and support. All these changes have affected most women equally, but from time to time, their responses may be guided by their specific religious, regional, caste and linguistic affiliations, or by individual perceptions which are independent of such factors. This research contributes to the study of the ageing process among first generation women migrants to Britain who are growing old in a western country. It aims to understand their ageing in terms of the conflicts they experience as they adjust their expectations in light of their experience of late twentieth century London. The thesis aims more generally at an understanding of ageing processes of migratory communities living in the West.

This thesis is a study of local rather than national black politics. The participation of Gujaratis, who comprise the largest ethnic minority community in Bolton, in local politics is constrained by their loyalty to Gujarati identities and by racism within political parties. The settlement patterns of Gujaratis in Bolton reflect in part the socio-economic constraints experienced by black immigrants in Britain generally, and in part their allegiance to faction, caste, sect and religious identities. On the basis of some of these social identities have developed organisations which respond to particular social, religious and political needs. These organisations provide the only opportunities for the development of black structures of support and leadership within this large community. Notions of racism are based upon a dialogue between white and Gujarati notions of what is common sense. These notions form the basis of Gujaratis' perceptions of social distances that separate them from others. The core of support for leaders is based upon personal social networks. The social characteristics of these social networks influence the patterns of close friendships between Gujaratis and members of other communities in the town. These patterns show that Gujaratis exclude Gujaratis who belong to other Gujarati religious communities and members of other ethnic communities, black and white, from close friendships. Friendships with those perceived to be social distant are of lower intensity, thus excluding these people from sharing in a common body of Gujarati knowledge. In the context of Bolton these Gujaratis find themselves unable to participate within the formal political hierarchy and decision making arenas. The local Community Relations Council offers Gujarati and other black leaders of organisations a forum within which they can meet with some of the locally and nationally elected political representatives. The debate centres on events, involving Gujarati and other participants, which allow leaders of Gujarati organisations and politicians and other members of the CRC to negotiate the power relations between black and white. However, the consequence is that the Gujaratis are still relegated to the periphery of formal political decision-making arenas.

The present work closely traces the emergence of a distinctively Gujarati political and cultural world by the fifteenth century, arguing that many of the political, administrative, cultural and religious institutions that are evident in modern Gujarat came into being when the region was unified by force and consensus under the Sultans of Gujarat. The western province of Gujarat with its extensive coastline became, from the eighth century, the hub of a vibrant network of trade that stretched from the Red Sea to Indonesia and over land to Central Asia and the borders of China. The ports and cities of Gujarat drew merchants, mercenaries, religious figures and fortune-seekers from the Arab world and neighbouring south Asian provinces. Gujarat' s general prosperity also attracted mass migrations of pastoralist groups from the north. Unlike previous studies that have tended to treat trade and politics as separate categories with distinct histories, the present research charts the evolving Gujarati political order by juxtaposing political control with networks of trade, religion and contestation over resources. Large parts of Gujarat were conquered in the late thirteenth century by the armies of the Turkic Sultans of Delhi. With the dissolution of the Delhi Sultanate in the late fourteenth century, the governor of Gujarat declared his sovereignty and inaugurated a line of independent Sultans of Gujarat who continued in power until defeated by the Mughal ruler Akbar in 1572. From the late twelfth century, Gujarat was the site of proselytising activities of various denominations of missionaries. By the fifteenth century, a wide variety of religious interests were competing for patrons, converts and resources. The highly evolved trading networks radiating out from Gujarat from the eighth century required pragmatic accommodation with successive political formations. Correspondingly, claimants to political power were heavily dependent upon merchants, traders and financiers for military supplies, and in return, offered the trading groups security and patronage. The constantly negotiated relationship between trade and politics was closely linked to the evolution of sects and castes, Hindu, Muslim and Jain. Trade and politics were increasingly organised and expressed in sectarian or community terms. In keeping with some recent literature, my studies suggest that community affiliations in this period were often negotiable and linked to changing status. The study ends in the late fifteenth century when the Portuguese arrived off the coast of Gujarat. Soon there were new alignments of identity and power as the pastoralist frontier politics of the previous period began to give way to settled Rajput courts, complete with bureaucracies, chroniclers and priests. The Sultans of Gujarat were now paramount in the region: wealthy patrons of merchants and religious figures, they were unrivalled in north India for their control of manpower, war animals and weaponry.

In this qualitative study I sought to explore the influence that culture has on diabetes (type 2) self-management for Gujarati Muslim men. In particular, I aimed to develop a theoretical understanding of this influence. I used an interpretive approach, which involved combining ethnographic and phenomenological methodologies. Interview and participant observation methods were used to capture data about the lived experiences of diabetes self-management, for a small number of Gujarati Muslim men. These accounts, along with further narrative data from significant others, were thematically analysed over several cycles. The cyclical nature of analysis enabled me to gain deeper and more meaningful insights into the influence that culture has on diabetes self-management. Also central to the research process and analysis, has been my journey and reflexive experiences as a researcher. The study has taught me much about myself, and I have changed and evolved as a response. Therefore the representations presented in this work are inseparable from me and my life, and I have endeavoured to reveal this within the thesis. The study was informed by a contemporary perspective on culture, in which culture is part of the self. A person's culture is in a constant state of flux, as the self continually recreates and negotiates the meaning of culture within the context of the present lived experience. Similarly, and in contrast to current health care policy, which frequently perceives self-management as a set of interjected behaviours, self-management was perceived as the ways in which the man chooses to incorporate his diabetes into the totality of his life. The synthesis of the literature with the findings, demonstrates that culture does not influence diabetes self-management in a rigid and prescriptive way, but instead culture and self-management are interwoven through the self. Since self-management is negotiated by the self and culture is part of the self, it is the self which connects and interweaves the two. The influence of cultural beliefs on diabetes self-management is negotiated by the self within a complex context of interacting factors. This complex context includes other aspects which are equally as important as culture in shaping self-management, such as material, structural and practical factors. Because culture exists within a shifting and fluid context, its influence on self-management is subject to change, negotiation and re-creation. The perspective I have fostered in this thesis, is a considerable move away from the essentialist perspective of culture, taken in much current health care policy and research. I present a challenge to the dominant perspective in which culture is often oversimplified and consequently blamed for deviant or noncompliant self-management behaviours. The subjective perspective of culture that I have adopted in this thesis, enables the realisation that culture influences self-management in neither homogenous nor deterministic ways.

This qualitative case study explores the language learning experiences of a sample of Gujarati women in London and uses tools of qualitative inquiry including 20 semi-structured interviews, two focus groups, observation and document analysis. The process of learning English as a second language is explored through an intersectional lens that takes account of gender, race and class and the corresponding identity constructions of Gujarati women. An inability to speak English for these women is further complicated by inequities brought about by classed structures, private/public patriarchy and processes of ‘othering’ for migrant women. This study is situated during a period of both rising nationalistic ideas in the UK, and during a precise moment of cultural nationalism in South Asia which is framed by concerns with race, ethnicity, class and gender which informs the formation of British-Asian femininities. This research supports other work that conceptualises identity as being in a constant state of flux, which is made explicitly visible within language learning processes that highlight identity as socially constructed, contradictory, and fluid. The poststructuralist conception of social identity as multiple, as a site of struggle, and subject to change is forms the basis of the theoretical framework. The concept of ‘investment' is employed to describe immigrant women’s involvement in language learning processes. The findings suggest implications for immigrant language training policies and further research. While the women interviewed in this research experience ‘race’ and patriarchy along class lines, they also face a dilemma of balancing their personal lives and protecting themselves from the ‘corrupting Western’ culture through imposed cultural definitions which might result in them taking up an ‘oppressed’ South Asian femininity. However, with time and age, the women’s subjectivities are reworked through acts of resistance, and examples of subtle manipulation which manifest as expressions of opposition as they perform an appreciation of ‘their own culture’ while simultaneously appropriating white spaces. Here, through this appropriation, the respondents construct ‘resistant identities’ and define a new ‘third space’. The dichotomies between East and West and tradition and modernity dissipate as the women’s agency allows them the actual construction of their identities as they go on learning English and changing their lives. These women’s oral histories speak of the gendered and sexualized discourses of assimilation, racism, and ‘otherness’, as well as other multiple points in which they break down. The conceptual insights gained from studying these Gujarati women are plentiful.

In the context of globalisation, not only human movement became more facile between places, but the meaning of people’s locality turned unstable and uncertain. During last four decades, the number of studies on the link between people and place has increased, in order to understand the multiplying and reciprocal interactions between people and place, and to recognize the challenges that the change of place issues to people, and the challenges that migrants’ arrival issues to the receiving place, especially to urban environment. The purpose of this research is to contribute to the discussion about the role of place played in identity, and that how migration influences the place-identity. It investigates the elicitation of attachment to home place, the disruption of place-identity continuity caused by migration, and the reconstruction of homely environment in order to maintain place-identity continuity after the settlement. According to these phases, the research units seek to answer the questions: how home place induces an attachment in people, how the change between places influences the place-identity continuity, and how relocated people manifest and maintain their attachment towards the home place. The study explores the answers in the case of Gujarati immigrants arrived in Leicester and Milan. The cross-urban comparison makes possible to examine the effects of postcolonial relations and migrant community development; size and concentration on the recreation and preservation of place-identity. Empirical inquiry is based on ethnographic field work: in-depth interviews and non-participant observations. The research analyses overall 62 interviews with Hindu Gujarati immigrants and descendants in Leicester and Milan; 36 and 26 interviews respectively, furthermore completed with further 6 interviews gained from research archives. Observation covers the urban public places, focusing on the material environment, social life, and religious ceremonies. The study uses the identity-theory as a theoretical framework to transfer the principles of identity to the concept of place and model the complex entity of people-place relationship. It organises the place, person, and process aspects of people-place relationship into a simple four-party model, applying it to the empirical exploration of research themes. Empirical findings call attention to the outstanding role of home place amongst the places that people come into contact with during their lifetime. First, the research provides clues that due to which particular place features the home place evokes strong positive emotions in Gujarati immigrants. Secondly, examining the emotional effects of migration and resettlement, it reinforces the trace of earlier investigations, proving that migration causes a mental confusion as it is accompanied by change of place. Advancing further, it shows that there is relation between the sense of disruption and certain abilities of immigrants and certain qualities of sending and receiving places. Thirdly, analysing how Gujarati immigrants and descendants maintain and express their attachment to place in Leicester and Milan, the research manifests that immigrants intend to keep up their belonging whenever it is possible, instead an assimilation into the new urban environment. It demonstrated that Gujarati immigrants use the same type of practices to reconstruct the homely environment in the two cities, but they have different outcomes, depending on immigrants’ special skills, labour profile, and the particular environmental factors of settlement place. Cross-urban results also indicate that postcolonial relations between the migrant sending and receiving countries, providing a receptive environment in the destination place and internationally extended social network, guide migratory pattern and favourably influence the immigrant community development, thus they may indirectly facilitate the transformation of urban place. Empirical findings provide evidences that home place, through the emotional bonding felt towards the environment, became part of people’s identity developing place-identity, and the need to regain the sense of home place disturbed by the migration prompts immigrants to recreate the home place in the urban settlement. By its results, the research contributes and provides new empirical findings to the growing body of literature on place-identity and urban ethnic landscape from many sides. However, the conscious adherence to the homely traditions, the maintenance of social group belonging, and the prominent use of religious practice hint that besides the environmental factors, migrants’ culture also plays a significant role in place-identity continuity. This calls attention to the need for further empirical examinations of the effects of cultural belonging on place-identity, and the need to construct a more culture-sensible place-identity framework.
Nel contesto globalizzato, gli spostamenti delle persone sono diventati più facili e il significato di località è diventato instabile e incerto. Nel corso degli ultimi quattro decenni il numero degli studi sul rapporto tra uomo e ambiente è aumentato. Tali studi hanno le finalità di comprendere le interazioni reciproche e multifunzionali tra persone e ambiente, e di riconoscere le sfide del cambiamento che l’ambiente produce sulle persone da un lato, e dall’altro del cambiamento prodotto dall’arrivo dei migranti, in particolare sull’ambiente urbano. L’obiettivo di questa ricerca è quello di contribuire alla discussione sul ruolo del luogo nell'identità, e su come la migrazione influenza l’identità di luogo dei migranti. Indaga l’attaccamento all’ambiente di casa, l'interruzione della continuità dell’identità di luogo causata dalla migrazione, e la ricostruzione di ambiente familiare al fine di mantenere la continuità di identità dopo l'insediamento. Secondo queste tre fasi, i capitoli della presente ricerca cercano di rispondere alle seguenti domande : in che modo l’ambiente di casa induce un attaccamento nelle persone, come il cambiamento tra luoghi influenza la continuità dell’identità di luogo, e infine come la gente trasferita manifesta e mantiene il suo attaccamento verso l’ambiente di casa. È analizzato il caso degli indù gujarati migranti arrivati a Leicester e a Milano. Il confronto cross-urbano permette di esaminare: gli effetti dei rapporti post-coloniali e lo sviluppo delle comunità migranti; le dimensioni e la concentrazione sulla ricostruzione e sul mantenimento dell’identità di luogo. La ricerca empirica si basa su un lavoro di campo etnografico con interviste in profondità e osservazioni non partecipanti. Nello specifico, sono analizzate 62 interviste realizzate con indù gujarati immigrati e discendenti a Leicester e a Milano, 36 e 26 interviste rispettivamente, completate con 6 interviste raccolte da diversi archivi di ricerca. L'osservazione riguarda i luoghi pubblici urbani, con particolare attenzione all'ambiente materiale, alla vita sociale, e ai riti e cerimonie religiosi. Lo studio utilizza la teoria dell'identità come un quadro teorico per trasferire i principi dell’identità al concetto del luogo e forma la complessa entità del rapporto persona-ambiente. Organizza luogo, persona e processo del rapporto persona-ambiente in un modello a quattro componenti, applicanto all'esplorazione empirica dei temi di ricerca. I risultati empirici richiamano l'attenzione sul ruolo eccezionale dell’ambiente di casa tra i luoghi con cui le persone entrano in contatto durante la loro vita. In primo luogo la ricerca rivela quali sono le funzioni particolari dell'ambiente con cui l'ambiente di casa suscita emozioni forti e positive negli immigrati gujarati. In secondo luogo, esaminando gli effetti emotivi della migrazione e del reinsediamento, l'investigazione rafforza i risultati di ricerche pregresse, dimostrando che l'immigrazione provoca una frattura mentale causata da un cambiamento di luogo. Ancora, la ricerca mostra una relazione tra da un lato la frattura sentimentale e dall'altro l’abilità dei migranti e qualità dei luoghi di invio e di ricezione. In terzo luogo, analizzando come gli immigrati gujarati e i loro discendenti conservano ed esprimono il loro attaccamento all’ambiente di casa a Leicester e a Milano, la ricerca mette in evidenza che gli immigrati tendono a mantenere la loro appartenenza quanto più possibile, e non ad assimilarsi nel nuovo ambiente urbano. Gli immigrati gujarati usano lo stesso tipo di pratiche per ricostruire l'ambiente familiare nelle due città, con risultati diversi a seconda delle competenze speciali, del loro profilo di lavoro e dei fattori ambientali particolari del luogo di insediamento. I risultati cross-urbani indicano inoltre che le relazioni postcoloniali tra il Paese di invio e il Paese ricevente dei migranti, fornendo un ambiente ricettivo nel luogo di destinazione ed una rete sociale estesa nell’ambito internazionale, guidano il percorso migratorio e influenzano favorevolmente lo sviluppo della comunità di immigrati. In tal modo le relazioni postcoloniali possono indirettamente facilitare la trasformazione del luogo urbano. I risultati empirici provenienti dalla ricerca mettono in evidenza che l'ambiente di casa fa parte dell'identità tramite il legame emotivo costruito con l'ambiente, sviluppando l'identità di luogo, e dimostrano che il bisogno di ritrovare il senso dell'ambiente di casa disturbata dalla migrazione spinge gli immigrati a ricreare l'ambiente di casa nel luogo urbano di insediamento. La ricerca contribuisce e fornisce nuove scoperte empiriche alla letteratura sull’identità di luogo e sul paesaggio urbano, etnico. Tuttavia, l'adesione cosciente alle tradizioni familiari, il mantenimento dell’appartenenza al gruppo sociale e l'uso prominente delle pratiche religiose suggeriscono che oltre ai fattori ambientali, la cultura dei migranti svolge un ruolo significativo nella continuità dell’identità di luogo. Lo studio richiama l'attenzione sulla necessità di ulteriori esami empirici sugli effetti dell’appartenenza culturale sull’identità di luogo e sulla necessità di costruire un quadro dell’identità di luogo più articolato, includente la cultura.

By examining the shifting working practices of the Sompura community of hereditary temple architects of western India my thesis argues that the nature of their work culture invested in their architectural and textual production is far more critical, innovative, heterogeneous and fluid than how it is portrayed in post-colonial knowledge located within the disciplinary bounds of architecture and art history. Through unchartered empirical investigation, which uses ‘cultural translation’ as a framework for analysis, the thesis highlights their creative negotiations and struggles with modernity between the late 19th and early 21st - century. Whether it is modern historical consciousness, notions of ‘antiquity’, nationalist ideas of hereditary craftsmen and tradition, changing patronage, global economy or technology, the Sompuras in their concrete and ‘present’ practices, translate all these as well as their long architectural lineage in specific inviolable modes. These query notions of a ‘fossilised’ tradition viewed through historical frameworks; the agency of ‘ritual’ untouched by capitalist processes and binary oppositions such as ‘east vs west’ or ‘traditional vs modern’. The publications of Narmadashankar M. Sompura (1883-1956) and P.O. Sompura (1896-1978), are analysed as transformations of both modern notions of antiquity and history and indigenous practices. The restoration of medieval ruins of Ranakpur and Dilwara temples in the early and mid-twentieth century by master builder Amritlal Mulshankar Trivedi (1910-2005) are explored as negotiations with western European ideas of history and conservation. The contingent relations between practice and codified knowledges are explored through oral histories concerning transnational case studies in the UK, whereas a variety of qualities and affects are seen as transforming capitalist processes and relations in modern carving factories, deploying a range of hand intensive, machine and digital technologies for a global dispersal. The thesis uses a variety of extra disciplinary methodologies such as oral history, close reading of family archives, along with a range of architecture and texts by the Sompuras and their medieval ancestors. It demonstrates that the Sompuras, believed to be carriers of a dynamic architectural tradition, have creatively and dynamically negotiated change by translating and transforming both their pre-existing cultures of work, as well as modern and global paradigms.

Over the last thirty years there has been a vigorous debate on the role of vocational education in developing societies. Critics have asserted that vocational education cannot deliver the economic and social benefits claimed for it. Despite the debate vocational education has continued to expand. India has followed the example of other developing societies with national plans for the extensive implementation of a programme of vocational education at the higher secondary level. The target was that by 1995 25% of the students in higher secondary education should be in the vocational stream. However progress has been slow and there has been considerable variation between states. In order to examine the problems of implementing vocational education this study examines the progress made in one state, Gujarat. It draws on examination of official statistics, documents and interviews with officials. The major part of the study is a comprehensive survey of the perceptions of the major stakeholders in vocational education - the Principals, the Teachers, the Students, Ex-students and Employers. The thesis examines the implications of the findings for the broad debate on the role of higher secondary vocational education in developing societies and more specifically for developments in India and Gujarat. A series of recommendations relating to areas such as the selection of schools and vocational courses, their management structure and staffing and their curriculum are made.

Mehr als zwei Jahrzehnte nach der wirtschaftlichen Liberalisierung Indiens kam es zur Herausbildung einer neuen Kultur des Unternehmergeistes, eines kapitalistischen Geistes. Sie umfasst die Wiederbelebung traditioneller wie auch das Entstehen angeblich moderner Werte. Die Kultur des Unternehmergeistes bezog sich vorwiegend auf die aufstrebende Mittelschicht des Landes. Diese Arbeitet erforscht wie der kapitalistische Geist in der Wirtschaftselite im indischen Bundesstaat Gujarat entsteht. Das Ziel der Forschung liegt in der Erklärung von Ungleichzeitigkeit im kapitalistischen Geist. Gujarat bietet sich als Region für eine solche Analyse an, da der Staat sowohl über wirtschaftliche Traditionen verfügt wie auch eine starke wirtschaftliche Öffnung erfährt. Den kapitalistischen Geist fasse ich als kapitalistisches Ethos im Anschluss an Pierre Bourdieus Konzept des Habitus. In Kombination mit Boike Rehbeins Konzept der Soziokultur, welches nebeneinander bestehende Lagen mit unterschiedlichen sozio-historischem Ursprüngen in einer Gesellschaft erklärt, gehe ich der Forschungsfrage nach dem Entstehen des kapitalistischen Geistes nach. Die Forschung wurde mittels der Dokumentarischen Methode mit qualitativen Interviews mit der Wirtschaftselite in Gujarat durchgeführt. Dem kapitalistischen Ethos in der Wirtschaftselite in Gujarat liegen drei Soziokulturen zugrunde, die mit der Britischen Kolonialzeit und Industrialisierung (1850-1947), mit der Zeit der eingeschränkten Wirtschaft (1947-1991) und mit der wirtschaftlichen Liberalisierung (1991) entstanden. Das kapitalistische Ethos wird in den Soziokulturen verschiedentlich interpretiert. Ich habe drei kapitalistische Ethoi rekonstruiert: das Mahajan Ethos, das Nehruvianische Ethos und das Neoliberale Ethos.
Almost two decades after India’s economic liberalization, scholars found the emergence of a new moral order. This new enterprise culture, or capitalist spirit, entailed the revival of traditional as well the formation of putatively modern values. While this enterprise culture accounted mostly to the emerging middle class in the country, similar changes were observed at the core of industrial capitalism: management styles, which remained unstudied sociologically. This thesis investigates how the capitalist spirit in the business elite in the Indian state of Gujarat emerges. The purpose of this study is to explain the emergence of asynchronicity in the capitalist spirit. Studying the business elite in a state with a stronghold in business traditions as well as a stark economic liberalization contributes to the above mentioned studies. Based on literature review I argue for the capitalist spirit as capitalist ethos, drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s habitus concept in combination with Boike Rehbein ‘s concept of socioculture, which explains coexisting layers in societies of different socio-historical origins. This research interest was operationalized with the documentary method, conducting qualitative interviews with the top business leaders in Gujarat. In this study, the capitalist ethos in the business elite in Gujarat emerges in three sociocultures that arose with British colonialism and industrialization (1850-1947), with the restricted economy (1947-1991), and with economic liberalization (1991). The capitalist ethos is differently interpreted in the sociocultures and therefore gains different meaning. I reconstructed the three capitalist ethoi of the Mahajan Ethos, the Nehruvian Ethos and the Neoliberal Ethos, respectively.

Photographs traverse the world in many forms and for many purposes. They follow and trace movements and networks of people, and have become essential objects in linking the past, present, and future of migrating communities. Vernacular photographs found in the home, encompass a substantial field of neglected knowledge and should be accorded greater attention and analysis in social science research. Vernacular images in academic research are often described as ordinary and mundane, their representational aspects are perceived to be repetitive and unremarkable (portraits, family snapshots etc.). However, this thesis argues that vernacular photographs are privileged objects and it is their universality and social embeddedness that elevates their significance in social science research. Unlike public or institutionalised photographic archives, vernacular archives operate within active social contexts and are alive with social agency. In this thesis, I use Alfred Gell’s anthropological theory of Art and Agency as the framework for conceptualising the social agency of photographs. To support these claims, this research examines the personal photographs found in the vernacular archives of a Gujarati migrant group in Christchurch, New Zealand. The photographs presented by members of this group are found at the centre of their social lives, mirroring their experiences and relationships in visual form. I use the Chakra Wheel as a visual metaphor to symbolise the nature of this group and their photographs. This metaphor speaks directly to the phenomenon of transnationalism and acknowledges that, for migrant communities, these transitioning processes are complex and elaborate, where the foundations of kinship and homemaking are constantly shifting. Vernacular photographs are at the centre of these transnational exchanges and networks, shifting from place to place, creating tangible and virtual threads between individuals, families, villages, and communities. They anchor these relationships at various sites, such as the wall in the family home, in albums, wallets, and on the internet. Vernacular photographs mirror these complex processes, and silently record and embody the social lives of people in a visual way. The mirrored reflection of the vernacular photograph can be both objective and subjective. By using the vernacular photograph as a research medium, in ethnographic research, we can get closer to the lived reality of people’s social lives. To emphasise the privileged position of vernacular photographs, I have chosen to use the methodology of photo-elicitation to position the photograph at the centre of enquiry. The methodology used in this thesis borrows some essential concepts from the discipline of phototherapy. Phototherapy claims that photographs can open up an exploration of us and others and, when the participant has primary agency, the affective force of the photograph is powerful and insightful. This thesis strongly supports these assumptions. Phototherapy uses photographs to explore the thoughts and unconscious processes of individuals. I argue that, in social research, photographs can also be used to explore and ‘open up’ the social world, by positioning the participant as the prime authority of their images, and their images as the vehicle of engagement and communication. By using vernacular photographs in this way, I look at both ‘on the surface’ and ‘below the surface’ of the image, making links with Barthes’ photographic theory and his concepts of ‘studium’ and ‘punctum’. In this thesis, the participants are the curators of their own personal archives. Their photographs give an emic view of their world, emphasising the importance of their migrant history, ancestors, village home, community, and cultural identity. Their photographs mediate agency between persons and places: keeping alive personal and spiritual relationships in the here and now; reinforcing essential familial knowledge systems; and assisting in creating and maintaining community identity and belonging.

Dementia care-giving is often constructed as burdensome and stressful. However, there is a growing interest to explore what the positive aspects of care-giving might be. Furthermore, there is little research which has focussed on the experiences of dementia care-giving in minority ethnic groups. Existing research mostly homogenises different ethnic groups, particularly different South Asian communities. It is argued that little is known about the care-giving experiences of specific South Asian subgroups but early research suggests variations in care-giving exists between them. The aim of the present study was to gain an insight into how some British Indian Gujaratis, a specific South Asian cultural linguistic group, felt about supporting a family member with dementia, particularly what care-giving meant to them, what were the positive and negative aspects of care-giving and what helped them to cope. The present study adopted a qualitative methodology using semi-structured interviews. Ten participants’ accounts were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Four main themes emerged capturing the impact of dementia care-giving for caregivers at an intrapsychic, dyadic, family and community and culture level. Each theme had a number of subordinate themes. Consistent with previous findings were the themes of psychological impact, growth and development, loss of relationship, reciprocity and family support. The study highlighted new themes at a community and culture level around expectations and norms and knowing and talking about dementia. It also highlighted the role religion and spirituality might play in helping some to manage the negative impact of care-giving. The findings have both clinical and research implications which are highlighted.

This research explored Indians' definitions of peace and their solutions for peace between Hindus and Muslims in Gujarat, India. The study also focused on peacebuilding efforts after the Hindu-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002.Members of a local NGO collaborated on the project by acting as gatekeepers in the field. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in Hindi with twenty-nine adult men and women (20 to 64 years old) from both the Hindu and Muslim communities. To develop an understanding of the social context of each community, the researcher initiated conversations and walks around the communities with three key informants and she also conducted participatory mapping of the communities.Data analyses of the transcribed interviews was performed by two coders using the Grounded Theory approach in the target language, i.e., Hindi. Four main themes emerged: (1) descriptions of the community, (2) perceptions of relationships Hindus and Muslims, (3) peace and solutions for peace, and (4) hopes for the future. Smaller specific categories were captured under these broader themes.Based on the data analyses, analytic matrices representing the relationships between these categories and the two main research questions were generated. These matrices were developed drawing from data obtained during participants' interviews, conversations with key informants, the researcher's field observations, participatory mapping, and the available literature.Relying on the conceptual frameworks generated from the data, participants' definitions of peace and their solutions for peace in their community were elaborated. Participants' defined peace as the absence of both direct (e.g., physical violence) and structural (e.g., unemployment, crime rates) violence. Further, their solutions for peace incorporated direct (e.g., absence of physical violence) and structural (e.g., opportunities for employment) peacebuilding as ways- to promote non-violence in their communities. The analytic matrices derived from this study provided strong evidence to suggest participants' definitions of peace and their solutions for peace could contribute to peacebuilding between Hindus and Muslims in the communities in Gujarat targeted for this project. Implications for employing peacebuilding strategies to resolve conflict between other individuals are offered, as are recommendations for investigating solutions designed to facilitate peace and limitations of this study.
Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

The concern of this research is the nature of the Hindu nationalist ideology in the western Indian state of Gujarat from 1880 to 1950 since this period is crucial in forging a relationship between Hindu and Muslim communities based on mutual suspicion. The attempt is to shed light on the way a fundamentalist ideology is configured in increasingly exclusivist terms whereby minorities in the subcontinent were gradually granted a marginal citizenship subordinated to a Hindu cultural mainstream. The deconstruction of the nationalistic discourses of some representative individual figures and groups -the Arya Samaj, the Hindu Mahasabha, K.M. Munshi and Vallabhbhai Patel- allowed unravelling a trajectory of this ideology identifying its major fluctuations. The focus on Gujarati nationalism of Hindu tradition as opposed to a rather exceptional Gandhian nationalism and its commitment to non-violence made possible to explain the current political culture in India nowadays that inherited the legacy of the agitational politics of those years. Along with the historiographical analysis of these discourses, the research explores the mobilizational strategies accompanying the ideological dimension. The political campaigns of these actors were fundamental in spreading a communal consciousness that enabled a history of perennial confrontation between Hindus and Muslims, an aspect whose origin can be traced in the colonial historiography on India. In this sense, the research aims not only at being a contribution to the academic debate on the formation of a national consciousness in Gujarat, but also attempts to elucidate the motivations behind communal violence grounded on the circulation of stereotypes and their exploitation. The study contributes to the understanding of contemporary violence as a result of a gradual communalization of politics and daily life that imbibes from the distortion of the historical paradigms that by the end of the nineteenth century still coped with multiculturalism.

Despite the growing interest in the region of Gujarat, its pre-colonial history remains a neglected area of research. The dissertation is an attempt at redressing this gap, as well as at developing an understanding of the role of literary culture in the making of local polities in pre-modern South Asia. The dissertation explores the relationship between literary texts and political power. It specifically focuses on the fifteenth century, which coincides with the rise of the regional sultanate, which, along with the sultanates of Malwa, Deccan, and the kingdoms of Mewad and Marwar, emerged as an important power in the politics of South Asia in this period. As the sultans consolidated their influence in Gujarat, they were forced to negotiate with a variety of locally powerful chieftains. These negotiations lie at the heart of the narratives studied here. Organised as a series of case studies, the main body of the dissertation focuses on epic poems in Old Gujarati and Sanskrit produced in the courts of these chieftains, as well as an epic poem from the court of Sultan Mahmud Begada (1458-1511). In the latter part of the dissertation, the focus shifts to another literary terrain, also associated with the warrior elite of Gujarat. It analyses the oral 'bardic' narratives as presented by Alexander Forbes (1821-1865) in his Ras Mala: Hindoo Annals of the Province of Goozerat in Western India (1856). Through the analysis of these narratives from the medieval and colonial periods, the dissertation considers different aspects of power and kingship as constructed in the literary traditions of Old Gujarati and Sanskrit, Aparna Kapadia SOAS, London 2009.

Background: Ensuring equal access and good quality care for minority ethnic groups has been a long standing concern for mental health services in the UK. The South Asian community are a minority group who are significantly under-represented in mental health services. Various factors have been suggested to account for their limited help-seeking. However, the existing research concerning South Asian communities has homogenised this group, this is problematic as it does not allow for the heterogeneity between South Asian subgroups to be attended to. Little is known about how individual South Asian subgroups, make sense of help-seeking for mental health problems. The objectives of this study were to explore how the Indian Gujarati community, a specific South Asian subgroup, understand mental health, where they go to seek help for mental health problems and the factors that facilitate or hinder them in seeking help. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine Indian Gujarati people recruited from the community. Transcripts were analysed employing thematic analysis underpinned by a critical realist epistemology. Results: Five main themes emerged from the analysis: ‘Constructions and causes of mental health problems’; ‘Religion: An integral role’; ‘Family: Honour and reputation’; ‘Community: A means of support & safety and ‘Professional services: Challenges and vision’. Conclusions: Participants’ reported family and community to be the sources from which they would seek help from for mental health problems. Religion was viewed as being fundamental in both understanding and managing distress. A number of barriers were identified as impeding help-seeking from the statutory services in this community. Integration of community groups and statutory services was highlighted as being vital in improving access and appropriateness of services. The implications of the findings at clinical, service and research level are discussed.

This thesis is based on fieldwork carried out in 1986-1988 in Sera, a village in south Gujarat, India. The research considers women's work and focuses on differentiation; that is, which women carry out which tasks. This is a rural area which has recently undergone substantial agricultural change with a shift from cotton to sugar cane production. It is characterised by high in-migration of seasonal labourers and out-migration of women at the time of marriage and of upper caste members migrating abroad. In order to examine women's work and position within this context, a framework has been constructed which distinguishes between forms of work and between women from different socio-economic positions. This theoretical classification, utilised empirically, is based on distinctions between women and between tasks. As far as tasks are concerned, divisions are made between those which are paid and unpaid and those which are agricultural and domestic. In addition, differences are made between women from households of different caste and class position, the organisation and structure of their household and life-cycle changes of individual women. Women from the Patidar landholding caste are seen to face very different experiences from those of the predominantly landless Halpati caste. Beyond the study of these two polarised groups, the thesis further considers class distinctions within each caste in order to understand the rationale behind household strategies in their allocation of labour. Furthermore, the work that women are required to perform and their relationship with other members of their household are also seen as partly determined by the stage in a woman's life-cycle and the composition of her household. When looking at the kinds of work undertaken by different categories of women, a variety of forms of control emerge. Thus, the nature of individual women's involvement in work activities condition and are conditioned by their position within their households and outside the home. The sources of their oppression and the extent to which women have control over their own lives is examined through their work activities. The theoretical framework and empiricial data presented in this thesis are brought together to show how the different conditions of subordination experienced by Patidar and Halpati women are constructed and what implications they have on their present and future position.

Landscape management is often referred to as a holistic concept, which deals with large-scale processes and multidisciplinary manners in regards to natural resource use with ecological and livelihood considerations. Seen in this light, landscape transformation should be understood within the context of the human-nature relationship, viewing human activities and their institutions as an essential part of the system rather than as external agents. When it comes to the landscape planning and management related to cotton farming in Gujarat, there has been diversity of interest groups such as local communities, governments, corporations and non-governmental organisations. In the present study, I examine two case studies of cotton production pertaining to the Gujarat region in order to study the opportunities and challenges faced by local farmers in the process of developing agriculture. In the first case study on Cotton Improvement Program in the nineteenth century, I highlight the socioecological consequences of the colonial cotton project and how it relates to the social dynamics of networks and agricultural landscape management. The second case study examines current debates regarding the social, economic and environmental impacts of genetically modified (GM) cotton on India’s social and natural landscape. This thesis emphasises that there are recursive motifs between the two case studies in terms of the local resistances, power relations and possible environmental effects, which can be explained through the state of ‘global core’ and ‘periphery’, and partly the framework of ecologically unequal exchange. The analysis of recurring patterns concludes that exploring the narratives of local experiences offers a number of significant details that show complex power dynamics manifested through constant struggles and resistances by ‘peripheral agent’.