Understanding the tensions in place – conflict and conservation in Kashmir

The ongoing evolution of the global heritage movement has been marked by a move away from fabric-centred understandings of heritage, towards a language of ‘place’, ‘values’ and ‘stakeholders’. Recent initiatives like the ‘Vienna Memorandum on Historic Urban Landscapes’ and the ‘Seoul Declaration on Heritage and the Metropolis in Asia and the Pacific’ represent important steps in such directions for managing the heritage of urban environments. This paper examines these developments in the context of Srinagar, the capital city of Indian administered Kashmir. With the conflict in the region enduring for more than fifteen years, the city - regarded as one of the most important pre-modern urban landscapes in South Asia - has suffered extensive physical damage. Nonetheless, the city remains the cultural and political heart of a wider collective identity rooted in the Kashmir Valley. As such, Srinagar presents a rich example of a city that would strongly benefit from the insights gained from Seoul and Vienna; an approach that recognises how a sense of ‘place’ arises through an intimate dialogue between the built environment and the socio-cultural context within which it sits. However, as we shall see, a framework oriented around ‘values’ and ‘context’ opens up unfamiliar and difficult questions and challenges. If a city like Srinagar is to be discussed in more holistic, less fabric-based terms, the interfaces between heritage and its wider social values, such as cultural sovereignty, multi-culturalism or democracy require far greater attention than they have received to date.

Non-government communications and conflict management: the experience of Iraqi Arab tribes

This chapter engages with tribal involvement in conflict management practices since 2003 and seeks to explain the role of this social structure in conflict management.

The relationship between perceived interparental conflict and Malaysian young adults' attitudes toward divorce

In the context of an upward trend in divorce rates in Malaysia, this article explores the relationship between Malaysian young adults' perceptions of interparental conflict and their own attitudes toward divorce. Two questionnaires were administered to 160 young adults between 18 and 30 years old: the Attitude Towards Divorce Scale and the Perceptions of Interparental Conflict−Intensity/Frequency Scale. A positive relationship was found between perceived intensity and frequency of interparent conflict and attitudes toward divorce in males and females, respectively; however, the associations were weak. Future investigations of divorce need to take into consideration both the cultural factors that are influential within a society and how they shape gender norms within that population to gain a greater understanding of this relationship. Such investigations will increase the understanding of non-Western culture's unique interaction between attitudes and divorce, thus potentially aiding future efforts to strengthen marriages and families.

Conflict of interest in Victorian rural and regional legal practice

This research report was based on 163 survey responses and 29 interviews with Victorian rural and regional legal practitioners, as well as 8 human service organisation representatives. Peak law profession organisations including the Legal Services Board, Law Institute of Victoria, the Federation of Community Legal Centres and Victoria Legal Aid were also interviewed for the research. The principal objective of the research was to examine how conflict of interested is manifested in rural and regional settings and how effectively the current conflict of interest rules are applied within those settings. The report includes a number of recommendations for better responding to issues of conflict of interest within a rural and regional context.

Health cosmopolitanism: melding universality and difference – the case of childbirth in post-conflict Timor Leste

ABSTRACTThis study will consider the case of TBAs (traditional birth attendants) under the health cosmopolitan banner. Fifteen interviews with health administrators, obstetricians, midwives, traditional birth attendants and women in Timor Leste, provide evidence : (1) that the WHO (1992) directive to dismiss the inclusion of TBAs within the formal maternity care system has been precipitous (2) that TBAs could, with adequate training in emergency obstetric techniques and hygienic practices, assist in meeting MDG No 5, and (3) that TBAs may assist in sustaining hybrid cosmologies and serving other cultural aims. Although Millennium Development Goals embrace the idea of the universal right to health, a human rights framework remains abstract and legalistic. I argue that health cosmopolitanism offers a more inclusive lens. Applied to maternity care it shifts childbirth to a central focus of government policy, obliges all nations to contribute international aid yet recognises the interpretation of complex needs at the local level. It defines a philosophy of care that is person-centred (not professional or institution-centred), ensures equal access to quality care (based not on ability to pay or other obstacles such as geographical distance) and choice of carer and modality (Western, traditional or hybrid). It underlines the argument here that TBAs trained in emergency obstetric care and hygiene and funded by international agencies would ensure every woman has a known carer, plus choice of location, modality and provider. Health cosmopolitanism thus embraces universality, individual autonomy, reciprocal respect and global responsibility.