Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'India, civilization'

The present thesis, entitled "Indian Muslim Perceptions of the West during the Eighteenth century", deals with Muslim images of the West at the turn of the eighteenth century as they were formulated in the minds of Indian Muslim intellectuals. It examines the modalities of experience and categories of knowledge of the West as they were perceived by Muslim scholars who had come into contact with the contemporary West. The main purpose of the present enquiry is to analyze the origins and the nature of such perceptions as were articulated in their writings. With the expansion of British political power in the sub-continent in the late eighteenth century Britain came to be identified with Europe as a whole in the minds of our intellectuals. The Indian intelligentsia's experience of the contemporary Western civilization became in fact its experience of the British society and culture. Extensive quotations from the writings of the authors under consideration are often used to illustrate the principal arguments in this essay. The thesis is based on relatively unexplored source-material which comprises Persian manuscripts in the Bodleian Library in Oxford and the British Library in London. Our writers' perceptions of the Western civilization concentrate on various aspects of European and, particularly, British culture such as social life, religion, political ideas and institutions and scientific and technological developments. The present study also attempts to assess the impact of an alien culture on various socio-economic levels in Indian society, especially since Muslims had largely lost a centralised political control over India. The declining Muslim intelligentsia accepted uncritically the impact of the new and powerful culture but the new knowledge presented in their writings was not significantly implemented in their society; rather, the indigenous society was overwhelmed by the new culture that was imposed upon it and gave in to it and its attraction.

First appearing on potsherds around 3300 BC, the Indus script was primarily in use during the Mature Harappan period (ca. 2600-1900 BC) in the Indus Valley region, centred in the north-western region of the Indian Subcontinent. It is one of the last remaining undeciphered scripts of the ancient world. A great number of Indus inscriptions, however, have been uncovered at many archaeological sites in the Persian Gulf, discoveries that corroborate the inclusion of the Indus civilization as an active participant in the Mesopotamian-dominated Gulf trade of the 3rd millennium. In addition to exploring the current state of research surrounding the Indus decipherment attempts, the thesis will examine new perspectives on ancient history, arguing in favour of various possibilities of Mesopotamian, Elamite, and/or pre-dynastic Egyptian (North East African) cultural presences or influences in the ancient Indus River basin.

This thesis looks at a variety of stakeholders and how they inform the conversations around disasters and disaster sites. In particular it focuses on the way knowledge frameworks of different actors informs this dialogue and defines the nature of their response. The thesis argues that this has an implication for debates on democracy, governance and citizenship. The thesis looks at four sets of actors: individuals confronting and coping with the everydayness of disasters.; the states of Gujarat and Orissa in India which innovate in the face of disasters to either create a techno-managerial response and institute different methodologies or use the existing structures to embed themselves further and perpetuate the poverty and disaster industry; the Christian and secular humanitarian groups: the former make a transition from charity to rights discourse while intervening in disasters. The latter focus on building methodologies which institute certain norms of responding to disasters and catering to those it considers as more vulnerable when disaster strikes. The thesis finally turns its attention to the response of four Hindu groups who draw on civilizational categories to engage with issues of pain, suffering, healing. Each stakeholder, the thesis argues, in articulating its response to disasters, presents a 'counter model' or at least a complementary understanding of how to think and respond to disasters. This plurality of engagement by questioning the preconceived frameworks adds not just to the democratic imagination but also to the debates on what constitutes governance and citizenship. Methodologically, the thesis is an ethnographic exploration located in two sites in India: Gujarat and Orissa. It keeps storytelling, ethnography, analysis, policy documents together and tries to show that they become a weave in disaster studies.

The Role of Religion in Ancient Civilizations: Select Readings addresses the importance of religion in ancient civilizations and encourages readers to evaluate these civilizations both historically and critically. The selected readings help readers understand civilizations as whole systems with not only social and political characteristics, but also religious ones. Topics include the establishment of patriarchal civilizations, Mesopotamian and Egyptian religion, and the early civilizations of Northwest India. Students also learn about the religions of ancient China and Japan, traditional African religions and belief systems, religion and burial in Roman Britain, and the great temples of Meso-American religions. The final selections are devoted to early Christianity, the Byzantine Empire, and Islam. Original introductions place the readings in context. Taken as a whole, these carefully curated articles demonstrate both the uniqueness of each religion and the traditions and practices that, over time, became interconnected and sometimes even fused to form new religions. The Role of Religion in Ancient Civilizations is well-suited to survey courses in world and ancient religions, as well as classes on religious history and the history of the ancient world. Kim Woodring earned her M.A. in history at East Tennessee State University and her M.L.I.S. in library and information science at the University of Tennessee. She is now a faculty member at East Tennessee State University where she teaches courses in American and world history and digital history. In addition to teaching, Professor Woodring also serves as the history department's webpage administrator and social media editor. Her professional writing has appeared in The Social Science of War Encyclopedia and Historical Archaeology.
https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu_books/1162/thumbnail.jpg

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, white middle and upper class women active in reform became involved in the movement for American Indian reform. Focusing on the so-called "Indian problem," groups such as the Women's National Indian Association (WNIA) were formed to address the injustices against, and sufferings of, American Indian people at the hands of the U.S. military due to the increasing pressures and demands of western migration. This study addresses the role white women played in the movement for Indian reform through their involvement either as part of the WNIA membership or as missionaries, teachers or field matrons. The thesis is concerned, above all, with the ways in which their involvement reflects larger historical trends that enveloped white middle class women during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The work of reform groups like the WNIA helped transform missionary and field positions into jobs which were identified as specially suited for women. While missionary work was, before the 1870s, part of the male or public sphere, through the feminization of American religion, Victorian tenets of domesticity and moral superiority, and changing economic and commercial opportunities, the way was opened for women to serve as missionaries without the "protection" of a husband. The WNIA provides an impressive example of the scope and influence of women's reform organizations during the Progressive era. However, the goals and beliefs of WNIA leadership provide a contrast to the goals and beliefs of women working in the field. This contrast illuminates women's intentions in their quest for Indian assimilation and their role in that pursuit. The thesis is based upon the individual experience of women who worked as missionaries, teachers and field matrons. Four case studies explored in chapter III provide a window into the redefinition of "true womanhood" that took place at the turn-of-the century through the ways in which the subjects of this thesis arrive at a new self consciousness about their role in Indian reform.

This thesis examined the rhetoric and discourse of the elite political actors in the Cherokee Indian Removal crisis. Historians such as Ronald Satz and Francis Paul Prucha view the impetus for this episode to be contradictory government policy and sincere desire to protect the Indians from a modernizing American society. By contrast Theda Perdue, Michael D. Green, and William McLoughlin find racism as the motivating factor in the removal of the Cherokee. In looking at letters, speeches, editorials, and other documents from people like Andrew Jackson, Theodore Frelinghuysen, Elias Boudinot, and John Ross, this project concluded that the language of civilization placed the Cherokee in a no-win situation. In internalizing this language, the Cherokees tacitly allowed racism to define them as an inferior group to Anglo-Americans. In the absence of this internalization, the Cherokee Indians surely would have faced war with the United States.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science and Engineering (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2012.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references.
The Indian monsoon affects the livelihood of over one billion people. Despite the importance of climate to society, knowledge of long-term monsoon variability is limited. This thesis provides Holocene records of monsoon variability, using sediment cores from river-dominated margins of the Bay of Bengal (off the Godavari River) and the Arabian Sea (off the Indus River). Carbon isotopes of terrestrial plant leaf waxes ([delta]¹³Cwax) preserved in sediment provide integrated and regionally extensive records of flora for both sites. For the Godavari River basin the ([delta]¹³Cwax record shows a gradual increase in aridity-adapted vegetation from ~4,000 until 1,700 years ago followed by the persistence of aridity-adapted plants to the present. The oxygen isotopic composition of planktonic foraminifera from this site indicates drought-prone conditions began as early as -3,000 years BP. The aridity record also allowed examination of relationships between hydroclimate and terrestrial carbon discharge to the ocean. Comparison of radiocarbon measurements of sedimentary plant waxes with planktonic foraminifera reveal increasing age offsets starting -4,000 yrs BP, suggesting that increased aridity slows carbon cycling and/or transport rates. At the second site, a seismic survey of the Indus River subaqueous delta describes the morphology and Holocene sedimentation of the Pakistani shelf and identified suitable coring locations for paleoclimate reconstructions. The ([delta]¹³Cwax record shows a stable arid climate over the dry regions of the Indus plain and a terrestrial biome dominated by C₄ vegetation for the last 6,000 years. As the climate became more arid ~4,000 years, sedentary agriculture took hold in central and south India while the urban Harappan civilization collapsed in the already arid Indus basin. This thesis integrates marine and continental records to create regionally extensive paleoenvironmental reconstructions that have implications for landscape evolution, sedimentation, the terrestrial organic carbon cycle, and prehistoric human civilizations in the Indian subcontinent.
by Camilo Ponton.
Ph.D.

Orientador: Robin Michael Wright
Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciencias Humanas
Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-10T17:15:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 PenaMarquez_JuanCarlos_D.pdf: 2407702 bytes, checksum: a083560d3c36f122d82919076a4e3dd2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008
Resumo: Esta pesquisa visa a descrever o processo histórico e social de desenvolvimento de Mitú como cenário urbano, colocando como eixo a participação dos índios na sua construção e significação. Desde esta realidade particular ¿Mitú, cidade indígena¿ criar as condições para que os atores sociais e culturais da região falem e materializem seus posicionamentos sobre o processo de desenvolvimento regional e da Amazônia. As histórias, as economias, a política, as etnografias e a cartografia social que serão apresentadas, procuram tecer as potencialidades e importância de colocar os atores sociais como sujeitos de pensamento e de ação vitais para as correntes de proteção e sustentabilidade cultural e ambiental da Amazônia. O urbano é um cenário complexo e simbólico, no qual o índio se confronta com a idéia de cidadão, de democracia, de poder e de poderes, produzindo e transformando as identidades. Os distintos fatores que influenciam a construção do urbano indígena não são uma soma de fatores individuais, mas uma nova expressão societária, correspondente à dinâmica social própria da Amazônia
Abstract: This research aims to describe the social and historic Mitu's development process, being an urban center and considering indigenous participation the center of its construction and meaning. From this particular reality ¿Mitú, indigenous city¿ create conditions to the social and cultural actors of this region to talk and materialize your ideas about the regional development process and Amazonian's one. The histories, economy, politics, ethnography and the social cartography which will be presented, wants to weave the potencials and importance of considering the social actors like subjects of vital comprehension and actions to the protection tendences in cultural and ambiental Amazonian sustainability. The urban is a complex and symbolic scenery, in which the indigenan comes across with the idea of citizen, democracy, and power or powers, producing and muting the identities. The distinct factors which influence the indigenous urban construction are not a sum of individual factors, but a new societary expression, corresponding to the social Amazonian dynamic own
Doutorado
Antropologia
Doutor em Ciências Sociais

Le Râmakîen est une des œuvres littéraires les plus importantes du royaume thaïlandais. Reprenant l’épopée indienne de Vâlmîki, le Râmâyana, il revêt une grande importance à la cour royale et sa popularité est considérable dans toute l’Asie du Sud-Est. Au Wat Phra Kèo, ses épisodes ont été intégralement illustrés sur le mur de la galerie. La thèse ne prend en compte que les parties figurant les dix incarnations de Viṣṇu et la naissance des dieux hindous et des personnages de l’épopée. Ces épisodes nous amènent au prélude du Râmakîen et l’étude s’arrête au moment du retour du roi Jânaka à Mithilâ. Il nous a fallu opérer des rapprochements entre ces peintures et le Tamrâ Thewarûp, les albums d’iconographie brahmanique, ainsi que le Tamrâ Thewapâng, recueil de légendes sur la naissance des dieux et les incarnations de Viṣṇu. Ces rapprochements étaient nécessaires car tous les épisodes représentés à Wat Phra Kèo ne sont pas racontés dans le Râmakîen tel que le relate la version du roi Râma I. L’omniprésence des scènes empruntées à l’épopée, en particulier celles des dix incarnations de Viṣṇu et des dieux hindous dans les temples importants de Bangkok fondés par les rois ou par leurs proches au début de la période de Ratanakosin, s’explique par la grande importance accordée par ces souverains à l’incarnation de Viṣṇu en Râma. Le royaume thaïlandais adopta par ailleurs les rites brahmaniques pratiqués à la cour khmère. Une récapitulation des témoignages iconographiques sur l’épopée au Cambodge, au Laos et au Myanmar complète notre étude
The Râmakîen is one of the most important literary works in Thailand. Derived from the Indian epic of Vâlmîki, it became very important at the royal Thai court, and is one of the most popular texts in South-East Asia. At Wat Phra Kèo its episodes are represented on the four sides of the gallery. This thesis aims to study the parts illustrating the ten incarnations of Viṣṇu, the birth of the Hindu Gods and the main characters of the Indian epic. These episodes lead us through the Râmakîen’s prelude and our study stops at the moment of King Jânaka’s return to Mithilâ, his kingdom. The comparison between the paintings, the Tamrâ Thewarûp, the iconographic albums of Hindu Gods and the Tamrâ Thewapâng (the book of legends containing the god’s creation and the ten incarnations of Viṣṇu) proved necessary to understand some of the painted scenes which do not relate to the Râmakîen, as told in the version composed by King Râma I. The omnipresence of a number of scenes borrowed from the epic (particularly the ten incarnation scenes of Viṣṇu and the Hindu God images) in the temples founded by the kings or their families around Bangkok’s Grand Palace can be explained by the great importance attributed by the sovereigns to the Râma avatâra of Viṣṇu. Besides, the Thai Kingdom borrowed from the Khmer court their Hindu rituals. A review of the Râmâyana images in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar completes our study

Mimbres-Mogollon people inhabited areas of southwestern New Mexico from approximately A.D. 200–1150, with settlements located primarily in the Gila, Mimbres, and Rio Grande Valleys and immediate adjacent areas. Among the most recognizable of Mimbres cultural traïts is the production of a white-slipped brown-paste ceramic decorated with bold, black, geometric designs. By about A.D. 1000, Mimbres pottery came to be more elaborately decorated with finely executed geomètric designs; in some cases, vessels were decorated with naturalistic motifs of animals, humans, plants, and anthropomorphized figures. This research project examines the production and distribution of Mimbres-Mogollon pottery using instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA, NAA) to identify pottery production sites and the movement of pottery throughout the Mimbres and adjacent regions of the American Southwest. Since publication of Gilman et al.’s (1994) seminal study of Mimbres pottery from the American Southwest using NAA, dozens of research projects involving the analyses of Mimbres-Mogollon and Jornada-Mogollon pottery have occurred. Projects have ranged in scale from small (<30) to large (e.g., 100–200 samples). These combined efforts have resulted to date in the analyses of thousands of Mimbres-Mogollon and Jornada-Mogollon ceramics and clays. Very little of this research has been formally published, and until now there has been no comprehensive analysis and interpretation that includes most/all extant NAA data. In addition to hundreds of recent NAA analyses conducted for this project, most extant data generated for earlier Mimbres NAA projects are incorporated into this study. In total, the dataset includes more the 3,600 NAA analyses of pottery and clays obtained from several hundred archaeological sites in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and northern Mexico. Research discussed herein provides—from a chemical perspective—the most accurate and comprehensive interpretation of Mimbres pottery production and distribution to date. Statistical analysis of the NAA dataset resulted in the identification of 35 distinct pottery groups. This finding is in contrast to most previous studies that only identified on average four to six compositional groups. Knowledge of the true group structure allows for a more accurate reconstruction of Mimbres pottery production and distribution and allows for examinations of temporal changes. Ultimately, this research will serve as a basis for archaeologists seeking to examine a broad range of topics related to Mimbres social organization and interaction, gender, and ideology.
Els integrants de la cultura Mimbres-Mogollón habitaven zones del sud-oest de Nou Mèxic des d'aproximadament el 200-1150 dC, en assentaments ubicats principalment a les valls de Gila, Mimbres i de Río Grande i les zones adjacents immediates. Entre el trets culturals més característics de la societat Mimbres hi ha la producció d'una ceràmica de pasta marró i d’engalba blanca decorada amb audaços dissenys negres i figures geomètriques. Cap a l'any 1000 dC, la ceràmica Mimbres va arribar a ser més elaborada, decorada amb dissenys geomètrics finament executats. En alguns casos, les peces estaven decorades amb motius naturalistes d'animals, éssers humans, plantes i figures antropomorfiques. Aquest projecte d'investigació analitza la producció i distribució de la ceràmica Mimbres-Mogollon utilitzant l’anàlisi per activació neutrònica instrumental (INAA, NAA), tècnica d’anàlisi química emprada per identificar els llocs de producció de ceràmica i el moviment de la ceràmica a través de les regions de Mimbres i les regions adjacents del sud-oest dels Estats Units. Des de la publicació de Gilman et al. (1994) i el seu estudi acadèmic de la ceràmica Mimbres del sud-oest americà a partir de NAA, s'han produït desenes de projectes de recerca que impliquen l'anàlisi de ceràmiques i argiles de Mimbres-Mogollón i Jornada-Mogollon. Els projectes han oscil•lat en escala des de petits projectes (<30) a grans projectes (per exemple, de 100 a 200 mostres). Tots aquests esforços s'han traduït fins ara en l'anàlisi de milers de ceràmiques i argiles de Mimbres-Mogollón i Jornada-Mogollón. Molt poca d'aquesta investigació ha estat publicada oficialment, i fins ara no hi ha hagut una anàlisi exhaustiva i d’interpretació que inclogui la majoria o totes les dades de NAA existents. A més dels centenars de les darreres anàlisis realitzades per NAA per aquest projecte, les dades existents generades en anteriors projectes per NAA sobre ceràmiques de Mimbres s’han incorporat en aquest estudi. En total, el conjunt de dades inclou més de 3.600 anàlisis per NAA de ceràmica i argiles obtingudes a centenars de llocs arqueològics d’Arizona, de Nou Mèxic, de Texas i del nord de Mèxic. La investigació descrita aquí ofereix, des de la perspectiva de la química i l’arqueologia, la interpretació més precisa i completa a dia d’avui de la producció de la ceràmica Mimbres i de la seva distribució. L'anàlisi estadística del conjunt de dades de NAA ha resultat en la identificació de 35 grups diferents de ceràmica. Aquesta troballa contrasta amb la majoria dels estudis anteriors, els quals només van identificar de mitjana de quatre a sis grups composicionals. El coneixement de l'estructura dels grups químics permet una reconstrucció més precisa de la producció i distribució de la ceràmica de la cultura Mimbres, així com també proporciona una important eina per avaluar els canvis culturals i temporals. En última instància, aquesta investigació servirà com a base per als arqueòlegs que busquen examinar una àmplia gamma de temes relacionats amb l'organització cultural de Mimbres i la seva interacció social, el gènere i la ideologia.

Defence date: 22 October 2003
Examining board: Prof. Kirti N. Chaudhuri, Instituto Universitário Europeu (Orientador) ; Prof. Diogo Ramada Curto, Instituto Universitário Europeu ; Prof. António Manuel Hespanha, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Co-Orientador); Prof.a Ines Županov, CNRS
First made available online 22 October 2020

碩士
國立中山大學
政治學研究所
98
This article is mainly based on the image link of how overseas Chinese think about mainland China, discussing how“CHINDIA” theory took shape by Sino-India scholar, Tan Yun-Shan and inherited by his son Tan Chung. To observe from the history, although the Tans live in the different background of environment and period, their proposition is still closely link with Chinese history. Tan Yun-Shan, an education scholar of overseas Chinese in early Republic of China, had developed Chinese culture in south Asia, was consequent invited to India by Tagore, and had done a cooperation of establish “Cheena Bhavan”. During Sino-Japanese Wars, Tan Yun-Shan advocate that China and India should against Japan together, he works as a translator between China and India, delver the important messages from Sino-India government to China government. After the War Tan Yun-Shan also worked hard dedicating the affairs of Cheena Bhavan and keep on develop the relationship between Sino-India and China, due to his great achievement we now respect Tan as “Modern Xuanzang ”. Tan Chung inherit the ideal of creating friendly relations between Sino-India and China from Tagore and his father, trying to find out the lost relationship between the two ancient civilizations China and India. By teaching in university of India, he found that there’s possibly of China and India has the similar friendly civilization in his research of China history. Meanwhile, he also leads the spirits of critical western theory in India academic circle. After retired from India academia, Tan Chung his own Sino-India friendly relations academic theory was almost matured, Spread the theory of “CHINDIA”, face to “the rising of China and India,” Tan Chung promote a peace development contribute world. As we could see, the Tans’ proposition shows the importance of culture between China and India, they hope to practice the ideal of “CHINDIA”through the interactive of swooping culture and traditional habits .

abstract: In this thesis, I examine the inclusion of American Indians as museum subjects and participants in Charles Willson Peale's Philadelphia Museum. To determine the forces that informed Peale's curatorship, I analyze Peale's experiences, personal views on education and scientific influences, specifically Carl Linnaeus, George-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon and Thomas Jefferson. Peale created a polarized natural history narrative divided between Anglo-Americans and races that existed in a “natural state.” Within the museum's historical narrative, Peale presented Native individuals as either hostile enemies of the state or enlightened peacekeepers who accepted the supremacy of Americans. Peale's embrace of Native visitors demonstrated a mixture of racial tolerance and belief in racial hierarchy that also characterized democratic pedagogy. I derive the results by examining Peale's correspondence, diaries and public addresses, as well as administrative documents from the museum such as accession records, guidebooks, lectures and museum labels. I conclude that although Peale believed his museum succeeded in promoting tolerance and harmony among all cultures, his message nevertheless promoted prejudice through the exaltation of “civilized men.” By studying the social and intellectual constraints under which Peale operated, it is possible to see the extent to which observation of and commentary on ethnic and racial groups existed in America's earliest public culture and shaped early American museum history. Contemporary museums strive for cultural preservation and tolerance, therefore analysis of Peale's intentions and effects may increase the self-awareness of today's museum professionals.
Dissertation/Thesis
Masters Thesis History 2015

碩士
國立臺灣大學
政治學研究所
99
This dissertation aims to research the ‘image of China’ from Indian and Australian studies viz-á-viz the Tibet issue. This dissertation is based on historical analysis and qualitative interviews, and focuses on the following subjects: firstly, analysing the Tibet issue research and ‘image of China’ in Indian and Australian literatures; secondly, comparing and explaining the similiarities and differences; and thirdly, understanding the interrelations between the China Studies and Tibet Issue Studies of the two countries. Overall, we can panoramically examine how India and Australia consider Tibet and China. What the author found was that Indian academia perceives Tibet as an individual subject like China and India, wheres Australian academia regards Tibet as a local subject in China. Furthermore, there are three ‘images of China’ from Indian scholars: the perspectives of international system, of civilizational politics, and of interrelational context. There are also ‘three images of China’ from Australian scholars: regarding China as a commonwealth, examining the relations between the Chinese state and ethnicities, and focusing on the local characteristics. The reasons can be concluded that the geological distance from Tibet and China, bilateral contacts with them in history and self-development experience of India and Australia. All in all, the inspirations can be brought to the Sinology from Indian and Australian on Tibet issue studies. India mainly held as ‘See China through Tibet’ as she forms the perception toward China by its history experience. Australia regards China as a state of multiple entities and she ‘Sees China in Tibet’.

This study attempts to discuss the transmission of oral tradition in religious and domestic contexts among the Indian Tamil Hindu people of South Africa. In chapter one, the focus of this study, as well as some reasons for choosing the Tamil group are discussed. The focus of this essay is to highlight the transmission of oral tradition in communities that have been physically separated from the original homes of those particular communities. Thereafter, in chapter two, examples of surviving domestic rituals are analysed. Life cycle rituals and calendrical rituals that are performed in the home are discussed with examples. Examples of surviving public rituals are considered in chapter three. An account of the rituals that are performed in the temple [either calendrical or of a personal nature] is given. In chapter four Tamil Hindu mythology which has survived in this country is given consideration. Lord Siva, in particular, is discussed to a greater extent. An overview of how some of the tradition has survived concludes this essay.
Thesis (M.A.) - University of Natal, Durban. 1993.

John A. Macdonald was not only Canada’s first Prime Minister; he played a significant role in framing much of Canada’s early “Indian policy” including legislation that was incorporated into the Indian Act (1876) which is still in effect today. Despite his central role, in all the voluminous analyses of Macdonald’s life and career, there is no in-depth scholarly study of Macdonald’s Indian policies or how his ideas about Indigenous people or race were formed. In this thesis, I examine Macdonald’s early personal context, how he may have developed his ideas about Indigenous people, the development of his Indigenous policies, and the local contingencies that shaped the rolling out of this legislative framework including the Gradual Civilization Act (1857) and the Gradual Enfranchisement Act (1869).
Graduate

Despite the general academic consensus that liberal democracy has triumphed over communism, Marxist-inspired movements continue to thrive across the global south. This is a curious phenomenon in the post-Cold War era. This paper explores the recent growth of both The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the Naxalite-Maoist Insurgency in India, and compares the two groups. It analyzes the factors that have led to their resurgence, in particular, the political and economic dimensions. Specifically, it addresses the impact of two dominant factors in fomenting their resurgence: neo-liberalism and political exclusion. First, recent growth of both groups seems to correlate with the adoption of neo-liberal economic policies and progressively draconian structural adjustments, which aggravated existing poverty and inequality, in their respective countries. Second, recent growth of both groups seems to correlate with political exclusion of marginalized groups, an exclusion increasingly enforced by state violence. The survival and growth of Marxist-inspired armed movements across the globe also raises important questions about the future of liberal democracy. This paper asks whether the persistence of Marxist-inspired movements across the global south has given the lie to the "end of history" theory, and what their resurgence says, if anything, about the "clash of civilizations theory. It concludes that the success of these movements challenges the apparent triumph of liberal democracy in both Colombia and India, and perhaps in the post-Cold War era globally.