La incidencia de la actualizaci��n del tratado de amistad India-But��n 2007 en las orientaciones en materia de pol��tica exterior de But��n. 2007-2014

El inter��s de este estudio de caso es analizar la incidencia de la actualizaci��n del Tratado de Amistad entre India y But��n firmado en 2007 en las disposiciones de pol��tica exterior de But��n en el periodo 2007-2014. Este trabajo se enmarca en los conceptos de identidad nacional, tomadores de decisiones, proceso de toma de decisi��n y an��lisis de pol��tica exterior, a partir de los cuales se pretende comprobar que el tratado de 2007 tuvo principalmente un efecto cristalizador en la pol��tica exterior de But��n, manifestado de manera significativa en materia de cooperaci��n internacional, moderada en materia de representaci��n pol��tica internacional y muy modesta en materia de apertura econ��mica y comercial.

La cooperaci��n internacional para el desarrollo como herramienta de pol��tica exterior japonesa en ��frica Subsahariana

El presente caso de estudio tiene como objetivo explicar el rol de la cooperaci��n internacional para el desarrollo en Tanzania, Mozambique, Nigeria para la consolidaci��n del liderazgo pol��tico internacional de Jap��n. El inter��s de realizar esta investigaci��n es la ampliaci��n del conocimiento sobre el uso del poder blando, para alcanzar los objetivos de pol��tica exterior japonesa. Por eso, se llevara a cabo una revisi��n bibliogr��fica para el an��lisis de documentos oficiales y art��culos acad��micos para la consolidaci��n de informaci��n. A partir de ello, se pretende demostrar que la cooperaci��n al desarrollo es una herramienta de pol��tica exterior japonesa para consolidarse como l��der, en la medida en que el uso de herramientas propias de la cooperaci��n y el presupuesto destinada a la ejecuci��n de ��stas tienen incidencia en los votos de estos Estados africanos para las iniciativas japonesas en las Naciones Unidas.

The repatriation of 1973 and the re-making of modern south Asia

In the aftermath of the 1971 war, nearly 250,000 people found themselves stranded in various parts of the subcontinent. These 'trapped minorities' became hostages in a complex negotiation process that highlighted how questions of citizenship and belonging remained unresolved in post-Partition South Asia. By studying three groups - the non-Bengalis, the Bengalis and the prisoners of war in a comparative perspective, this paper re-visits the question of who was welcome within certain borders and on what terms. It argues that these decisions depended not just on the state's policies towards 'outsiders' but also upon its own relationship with its minority communities.

Of tropics, prisons and bicycles: a conversation with David Arnold

David Arnold who retired this year as the Professor of Asian and Global History at the University of Warwick remains one of the most prolific historians of colonial medicine and modern South Asia. A founding member of the subaltern studies collective, he is considered widely as a pioneer in the histories of colonial medicine, environment, penology, hunger and famines within South Asian studies and beyond. In this interview he recalls his formative inspirations, ideological motivations and reflects critically on his earlier works, explaining various shifts as well as map- ping the possible course of future work. He talks at length about his forthcoming works on everyday technology, food and monsoon Asia. Finally, he shares with us his desire of initiating work on an ambitious project about the twin themes of poison and poverty in South Asian his- tory, beginning with the Bengal famine in the late eighteenth century and ending with the Bhopal gas tragedy of the early 1980s. This conversation provides insights into the ways in which the field of medical history in modern South Asia has been shaped over the past three decades through interactions with broader discussions on agency, resistance, power, everydayness, subal- tern studies, global and spatial histories. It hints further at the newer directions which are being opened up by such persisting intellectual entanglements.

Re-Evaluating Vietnam���s Nghe-Tinh Soviets (1930-1931) using a Historical GIS: Some Preliminary Observations

The Nghe-Tinh Soviets of 1930-1931, a rebellion against colonial authority in north-central and central colonial Vietnam, has received extensive analysis by a variety of commentators and scholars, both Vietnamese and not. Most scholars, Vietnam and internationally, settled on some view of immiseration combined with the presence of pro-communist organizers as the motive forces for the rebellion, but a few have favored questions of political dissatisfaction and local empowerment as underlying motivations for revolt. Until recently, examining the rebellion on a gross scale in order to test either theory has proven difficult, with a surfeit of information but no easy way to process it in order to underwrite large-scale analyses. Del Testa is using a historical GIS (geographical information system) analysis, which blends statistics with digitized maps, in order to display correlations between factors, such as wealth, religion, and so on of those who rebelled in order to reexamine the Nghe-Tinh Soviets movement on a grand scale. His presentation will illustrate some initial findings as well as the techniques used.

Pond-Women Revelations: The Subaltern Registers in Maithil Women's Expressive Forms

Ponds are ubiquitous in the Maithil region of Nepal, and they figure prominently in folk narratives and ceremonial paintings produced by women there. I argue that in Maithil women's folktales, as in their paintings, the trope of ponds shifts the imaginative register toward women's perspectives and the importance of women's knowledge and influence in shaping Maithil society, even as this register shift occurs within plots featuring male protagonists. I argue further that in the absence of a habit of exegesis in their expressive arts, and given the cross-referential, dialogic nature of expressive practices, a methodology that draws into interpretive conversation the multitude of expressive forms exercised by Maithil women enhances analytical access to Maithil women's collective perspectives on their social and cosmological worlds.

The Politics of Purchasing Power: Feminist Tourism and Women's Development in Nepal

My purpose in this essay is to explore how ideas about women and development are created and circulated at the moment of consumption of wares produced at a women's development project in Nepal. I analyze the project as an example of the ways that women's development is an object of material and discursive consumption. Artifacts produced and sold by Nepali women, and purchased by tourists from the "first world," become part of an international exchange of power, money, and meaning. Based on a survey of consumers and ethnographic observations, I conclude that feminist tourists forge relations with disempowered "Others" through the pleasurable activity of an alienated market transaction. Consumers of crafts produced at a women's development project assume a position of empowerment and enlightenment, ready to help out their "women" counterparts through their support of an enterprise with circular logic: within the industry of development (although not necessarily for feminist tourists themselves), at least one of the central projects of development is the development project itself. At the same time, feminist tourists locate themselves outside the oppressive structures and ideologies affecting their "third-world sisters." This is a relation of sympathy and imagined empathy, with no sense of differential location within systems of oppression. They fail to examine or articulate the global link between their own purchasing power and local living conditions of Maithil women; the connection is effectively built out of the discourse.