Uncover the Concealed Link: Gender & Ethnicity-Divided Local Knowledge on the Agro-Ecosystem of a Forest Margin

This research is a study about knowledge interface that aims to analyse knowledge discontinuities, the dynamic and emergent characters of struggles and interactions within gender system and ethnicity differences. The cacao boom phenomenon in Central Sulawesi is the main context for a changing of social relations of production, especially when the mode of production has shifted or is still underway from subsistence to petty commodity production. This agrarian change is not only about a change of relationship and practice, but, as my previous research has shown, also about the shift of knowledge domination, because knowledge construes social practice in a dialectical process. Agroecological knowledge is accumulated through interaction, practice and experience. At the same time the knowledge gained from new practices and experiences changes mode of interaction, so such processes provide the arena where an interface of knowledge is manifested. In the process of agro-ecological knowledge interface, gender and ethnic group interactions materialise in the decision-making of production and resource allocation at the household and community level. At this point, power/knowledge is interplayed to gain authority in decision-making. When authority dominates, power encounters resistance, whereas the dominant power and its resistance are aimed to ensure socio-economic security. Eventually, the process of struggle can be identified through the pattern of resource utilisation as a realisation of production decision-making. Such processes are varied from one community to another, and therefore, it shows uniqueness and commonalities, especially when it is placed in a context of shifting mode of production. The focus is placed on actors: men and women in their institutional and cultural setting, including the role of development agents. The inquiry is informed by 4 major questions: 1) How do women and men acquire, disseminate, and utilise their agro ecological knowledge, specifically in rice farming as a subsistence commodity, as well as in cacao farming as a petty commodity? How and why do such mechanisms construct different knowledge domains between two genders? How does the knowledge mechanism apply in different ethnics? What are the implications for gender and ethnicity based relation of production? ; 2) Using the concept of valued knowledge in a shifting mode of production context: is there any knowledge that dominates others? How does the process of domination occur and why? Is there any form of struggle, strategies, negotiation, and compromise over this domination? How do these processes take place at a household as well as community level? How does it relate to production decision-making? ; 3) Putting the previous questions in two communities with a different point of arrival on a path of agricultural commercialisation, how do the processes of struggle vary? What are the bases of the commonalities and peculiarities in both communities?; 4) How the decisions of production affect rice field - cacao plantation - forest utilisation in the two villages? How does that triangle of resource use reflect the constellation of local knowledge in those two communities? What is the implication of this knowledge constellation for the cacao-rice-forest agroecosystem in the forest margin area? Employing a qualitative approach as the main method of inquiry, indepth and dialogic interviews, participant observer role, and document review are used to gather information. A small survey and children’s writing competition are supplementary to this data collection method. The later two methods are aimed to give wider information on household decision making and perception toward the forest. It was found that local knowledge, particularly knowledge pertaining to rice-forest-cacao agroecology is divided according to gender and ethnicity. This constellation places a process of decision-making as ‘the arena of interface’ between feminine and masculine knowledge, as well as between dominant and less dominant ethnic groups. Transition from subsistence to a commercial mode of production is a context that frames a process where knowledge about cacao commodity is valued higher than rice. Market mechanism, as an external power, defines valued knowledge. Valued knowledge defines the dominant knowledge holder, and decision. Therefore, cacao cultivation becomes a dominant practice. Its existence sacrifices the presence of rice field and the forest. Knowledge about rice production and forest ecosystem exist, but is less valued. So it is unable to challenge the domination of cacao. Various forms of struggles - within gender an ethnicity context - to resist cacao domination are an expression of unequal knowledge possession. Knowledge inequality implies to unequal access to withdraw benefit from market valued crop. When unequal knowledge fails to construct a negotiated field or struggles fail to reveal ‘marginal’ decision, e.g. intensification instead of cacao expansion to the forest, interface only produces divergence. Gender and ethnicity divided knowledge is unabridged, since negotiation is unable to produce new knowledge that accommodates both interests. Rice is loaded by ecological interest to conserve the forest, while cacao is driven by economic interest to increase welfare status. The implication of this unmediated dominant knowledge of cacao production is the construction of access; access to the forest, mainly to withdraw its economic benefit by eliminating its ecological benefit. Then, access to cacao as the social relationship of production to acquire cacao knowledge; lastly, access to defend sustainable benefit from cacao by expansion. ‘Socio-economic Security’ is defined by Access. The convergence of rice and cacao knowledge, however, should be made possible across gender and ethnicity, not only for the sake of forest conservation as the insurance of ecological security, but also for community’s socio-economic security. The convergence might be found in a range of alternative ways to conduct cacao sustainable production, from agroforestry system to intensification.

The Personal tutorial guidance sessions in the framework of the teaching-learning field of the Bologna process: University of Minho (first cycle) courses students’ perceptions

The Bologna Process defends the adoption of a higher education in teaching-learning methodologies that – in contraposition to the previous model based on the transmission of knowledge, which for being essentially theoretical, gives the student a passive role in the knowledge construction process – allows a (pro) active, autonomous and practical learning, where the student acquires and develops his competences. The personal tutorial guidance sessions are included in the teaching contact hours. This abstract presents a study about the University of Minho (first cycle) Courses Students’ perceptions of the personal tutorial guidance sessions’ relevance in the scope of the learning-teaching process, so as to confirm if the implementation/implantation of the commonly called tutorial (type) education, as an approach to an active, autonomous and practical learning, is sensed by the learners themselves

Recerca versus docència en una experiència d'internalització dels estudis de Geografia a la Universitat de Girona: The faces of landscape, Catalonia and North Karelia = Research versus teaching in one experience of internationalization of the Geography degree studies in the University of Girona: The faces of landscape, Catalonia and North Karelia

Un dels reptes cabdals de la Universitat és enllaçar l’experiència de recerca amb la docència, així com promoure la internacionalització dels estudis, especialment a escala europea, tenint present que ambdues poden actuar com a catalitzadores de la millora de la qualitat docent. Una de les fórmules d’internacionalització és la realització d’assignatures compartides entre universitats de diferents països, fet que suposa l’oportunitat d’implementar noves metodologies docents. En aquesta comunicació es presenta una experiència en aquesta línia desenvolupada entre la Universitat de Girona i la Universitat de Joensuu (Finlàndia) en el marc dels estudis de Geografia amb la realització de l’assignatura 'The faces of landscape: Catalonia and North Karelia'. Aquesta es desenvolupa al llarg de dues setmanes intensives, una en cadascuna de les Universitats. L’objectiu és presentar i analitzar diferents significats del concepte paisatge aportant també metodologies d’estudi tant dels aspectes físics i ecològics com culturals que s’hi poden vincular i que són les que empren els grups de recerca dels professors responsables de l’assignatura. Aquesta part teòrica es completa amb una presentació de les característiques i dinàmiques pròpies dels paisatges finlandesos i catalans i una sortida de camp. Per a la part pràctica es constitueixen grups d’estudi multinacionals que treballen a escala local algun dels aspectes en els dos països, es comparen i es realitza una presentació i defensa davant del conjunt d’estudiants i professorat. La llengua vehicular de l’assignatura és l’anglès

Online Writing Handbook (University of Toronto)

Tutorial style handbook on approaches to writing. Suitable for University level students. Topics include basic report writing it also gives you guidance on topics such as layout, referencing and even oral presentations

Networked Life: Module CIS 112, University of Pennsylvania, Spring 2008

What kind of science is appropriate for understanding the Facebook? How does Google find what you're looking for... ...and exactly how do they make money doing so? What structural properties might we expect any social network to have? How does your position in an economic network (dis)advantage you? How are individual and collective behavior related in complex networks? What might we mean by the economics of spam? What do game theory and the Paris subway have to do with Internet routing? What's going on in the pictures to the left and right? Networked Life looks at how our world is connected -- socially, economically, strategically and technologically -- and why it matters. The answers to the questions above are related. They have been the subject of a fascinating intersection of disciplines including computer science, physics, psychology, mathematics, economics and finance. Researchers from these areas all strive to quantify and explain the growing complexity and connectivity of the world around us, and they have begun to develop a rich new science along the way. Networked Life will explore recent scientific efforts to explain social, economic and technological structures -- and the way these structures interact -- on many different scales, from the behavior of individuals or small groups to that of complex networks such as the Internet and the global economy. This course covers computer science topics and other material that is mathematical, but all material will be presented in a way that is accessible to an educated audience with or without a strong technical background. The course is open to all majors and all levels, and is taught accordingly. There will be ample opportunities for those of a quantitative bent to dig deeper into the topics we examine. The majority of the course is grounded in scientific and mathematical findings of the past two decades or less.

Reusable Learning Object repository at the University of Nottingham

Over 100 RLOs in subjects relevant to health, including evidence-based practice, clinical skills, basic sciences, pharmacology, physiology, genetics and study skills.

The International Student Experience at the University of Southampton

This video highlights aspects of the lives of international students at UG, PGT and PGR levels from all 3 faculties. It shows them responding to a range of authentic scenarios about the experiences and challenges of being an international student at the University of Southampton in the early 21st century from their perspective. The overall objective of this short film therefore is to capture experiences and viewpoints of international students currently at the University. By viewing this video, it is hoped that staff will be able to gain a better understanding and appreciation of what their international students are feeling and facing at various points along their student life cycle.

University of Southampton Module Evaluation Form

This is the full Module Evaluation Form adopted by the University of Southampton. The latest editable file can be downloaded from the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit (LATEU) of the University. Included in this resource is the online version of the form for use in Blackboard, WebCT and other virtual learning environments. If you are using Blackboard, you are advised to use Internet Explorer version 6 or higher. Save the Blackboard zip archive to a local drive. Do not rename the file name. Go to the destination course area in Blackboard, open the "Control Panel" and then start the "Survey Manager" (in the "Assessment" group). Use the "Import" command to upload the zip archive. Once this is completed, rename the evaluation form which can then be added to any content area within the course using the dropdown "Add Survey" command.

Academic integrity at the University of Southampton

This is a two part audio podcast designed to provide advice and guidance for students at the University of Southampton. Transcripts for each part of the podcast are also provided.

Academic integrity resources at the University of Southampton

These are resources within EdShare which provide support and guidance to students on working with academic integrity and avoiding plagiarism.

University of Southampton logos

This PowerPoint file has the new-brand University logo in a format that you can copy-and-paste to Word and PowerPoint. You can scale them without 'jaggies' and they have a transparent background. Several approved colours are included.