scholarly journals Uncertainty, Risk, and Merit-Making

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 88-109
Author(s):  
Zhen Ma

The rising importance of the tea business among the Bulang people of Yunnan province, Southwest China, is intimately linked to Theravada Buddhist ideologies and practices. Non-reciprocal merit-making provides a sense of control, and this is particularly important in an increasingly uncertain economic environment. More and more people were ready to engage in high-risk trading, and new rituals emerged precisely at a time when profit margins increased rapidly. The reinvention of local rituals helped people to control risk-taking and to morally legitimize ambiguous market behavior. The result is strong synergies between the ways uncertainty and risk are being addressed in the tea economy and in local religious practice: economic processes are changing religious practices just as much as religious practices are making a difference in economic behavior.

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muslich Muslich

Tobacco from Kemloko Village has expressively attracted the attention of large companies such as Gudang Garam, Djarum, Sukun, Djambu Bol, Noroyono, and Bentoel. The Kemloko Village Community mostly works as a tobacco farmer, which is as many as 64.8% of total residents. In addition to these economic activities, the people of Kemloko Village are also active in carrying out traditional religious rituals (congregational prayers, tahlil dhikr and grave pilgrimage, ritual recitation, and slametan) led by village kyai. The kyai concurrently plays a role as important figures in the community, where the santri and society learn to adapt the outside realities, including the economic sphere. This article discusses the complex relationship of tobacco economic activity and the religious practices of the Kemloko Village community, arguing that the two factors makes traders (baskets and bosses) take advantage of the religious behavior of the elder kyai (as a source of authority) while the farmers get more profits. Keywords: tobacco farmers, religious practice, kyai, cultural brokerage 


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma C. Johnson ◽  
Fazil Aliev ◽  
Jacquelyn L. Meyers ◽  
Jessica E. Salvatore ◽  
Rebecca Tillman ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Aldona Maria Piwko

AbstractThis paper concerns a problem, the global pandemic COVID-19, which has influenced religious practices with respect to health protection across the Muslim world. Rapid transmission of the virus between people has become a serious challenge and a threat to the health protection of many countries. The increase in the incidence of COVID-19 in the Muslim community took place during and after the pilgrimages to Iran's Qom and as a result of the Jamaat Tabligh movement meetings. However, restrictions on religious practices have become a platform for political discussions, especially among Muslim clergy. This paper is an analysis of the religious and political situation in Muslim countries, showing the use of Islam to achieve specific goals by the authorities, even at the price of the health and life of citizens.


2009 ◽  
Vol 90 (4) ◽  
pp. 1025-1034 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tai-Yun Wei ◽  
Jin-Guang Yang ◽  
Fu-Long Liao ◽  
Fang-Luan Gao ◽  
Lian-Ming Lu ◽  
...  

Rice stripe virus (RSV) is one of the most economically important pathogens of rice and is repeatedly epidemic in China, Japan and Korea. The most recent outbreak of RSV in eastern China in 2000 caused significant losses and raised serious concerns. In this paper, we provide a genotyping profile of RSV field isolates and describe the population structure of RSV in China, based on the nucleotide sequences of isolates collected from different geographical regions during 1997–2004. RSV isolates could be divided into two or three subtypes, depending on which gene was analysed. The genetic distances between subtypes range from 0.050 to 0.067. The population from eastern China is composed only of subtype I/IB isolates. In contrast, the population from Yunnan province (southwest China) is composed mainly of subtype II isolates, but also contains a small proportion of subtype I/IB isolates and subtype IA isolates. However, subpopulations collected from different districts in eastern China or Yunnan province are not genetically differentiated and show frequent gene flow. RSV genes were found to be under strong negative selection. Our data suggest that the most recent outbreak of RSV in eastern China was not due to the invasion of new RSV subtype(s). The evolutionary processes contributing to the observed genetic diversity and population structure are discussed.


Phytotaxa ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 87 (3) ◽  
pp. 39
Author(s):  
HUAN-CHONG WANG ◽  
XIN-MAO ZHOU ◽  
HANG SUN ◽  
YUE-HUA WANG

Acronema crassifolium, a distinct new species endemic to Yunnan province, China, is described and illustrated. It is characterized by its thickly papery, ternate, abaxially dark purple leaves, terminal umbels with 8–13 rays, and absent calyx teeth. The pollen morphology of the new species is also described in this study.


Zootaxa ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 5091 (4) ◽  
pp. 501-545
Author(s):  
YI-FENG ZHANG ◽  
LING-ZENG MENG ◽  
ROGER A. BEAVER

The powder post beetles (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae) (except Lyctinae) of Yunnan Province in Southwest China are reviewed for the first time. Keys to twenty-six genera and fifty-two species from the Yunnan region are provided. One new genus and seven new species are described: Dinoderus (Dinoderastes) hongheensis sp. nov., Dinoderus (Dinoderastes) nanxiheensis sp. nov., Gracilenta yingjiangensis gen. nov., sp. nov., Calonistes vittatus sp. nov., Calophagus colombiana sp. nov., Xylodrypta guochuanii sp. nov. and Xylodrypta zhenghei sp. nov.. Fourteen species are recorded in China for the first time. The bostrichid fauna of Yunnan is compared with those of the neighbouring bio-geographically related Southeast Asian and Himalayan regions. The fauna has a close affinity with that of tropical Southeast Asia and a much weaker relationship with the Palearctic region. The differences with the Himalayas may reflect the separate evolutionary and complex geological history of the two areas.


2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 141-156
Author(s):  
David Le Breton

Risk is most often associated with danger and perceived as a harmful aspect of life, as an insidious and unwelcome threat that should be avoided. Risk-taking, however, is sometimes a singular passion, a source of pleasure that becomes a way of life. When freely pursued as a valorised activity, it can be a path to self-fulfilment, an opportunity to confront new situations, and a means for redefining one’s self, testing personal abilities, increasing self-esteem or gaining recognition. Deliberate risk-taking is a form of character building. It accommodates life’s intensities. It is extremely popular in high-risk physical activities and sports and postmodern forms of adventure.


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