scholarly journals Endogenous change: on cooperation and water availability in two ancient societies

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 1745-1760 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Pande ◽  
M. Ertsen
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
Indus Basin ◽  
Water Access ◽  
Central State ◽  
Historical Reconstructions ◽  
Endogenous Change ◽  
Ancient Civilizations ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Water Scarce

Abstract. We propose and test the theory of endogenous change in societal institutions based on historical reconstructions of two ancient civilizations, the Indus and Hohokam, in two water-scarce basins, the Indus Basin in the Indian subcontinent and the lower Colorado Basin in the southwestern United States. In our reconstructions, institutions are approximated by the scale of "cooperation", be it in the form of the extent of trade, sophisticated irrigation networks, a central state or a loosely held state with a common cultural identity. We study changes in institutions brought about by changes in factors like rainfall, population density, and land-use-induced water resource availability, in a proximate manner. These factors either change naturally or are changed by humans; in either case we contend that the changes affect the stability of cooperative structures over time. We relate the quantitative dimensions of water access by ancient populations to the co-evolution of water access and the socioeconomic and sociopolitical organizations. In doing so, we do not claim that water manipulation was the single most significant factor in stimulating social development and complexity – this would be highly reductionist. Nonetheless, we provide a discussion with the aim to enhance our understanding of the complexity of coupled human–hydrological systems. We find that scarcity triggered more complex cooperative arrangements in both Indus and Hohokam societies.

scholarly journals Endogenous change: on cooperation and water in ancient history

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 4829-4868 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Pande ◽  
M. Ertsen
Keyword(s):  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
Indus Basin ◽  
Ancient History ◽  
Sociopolitical Organization ◽  
Irrigation Network ◽  
Historical Reconstructions ◽  
Endogenous Change ◽  
Ancient Civilizations ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Water Scarce

Abstract. We propose and test the theory of endogenous change based on historical reconstructions of two ancient civilizations, Indus and Hohokam, in two water scarce basins, the Indus basin in the Indian subcontinent and the Lower Colorado basin in Southwestern United States. The endogenous institutional change sees changes in institutions as a sequence of equilibria brought about by changes in "quasi-parameters" such as rainfall, population density, soil and land use induced water resource availability. In the historical reconstructions of ancient civilizations, institutions are proximated by the scale of cooperation be it in the form of the extent of trade, sophisticated irrigation network, a centrally planned state or a loosely held state with a common cultural identity. The "quasi-parameters" either change naturally or are changed by humans and the changes affect the stability of cooperative structures over time. However, human influenced changes in the quasi-parameters itself are conditioned on the scale of existing cooperative structures. We thus provide insights into the quantitative dimensions of water access by ancient populations and its co-evolution with the socioeconomic and sociopolitical organization of the human past. We however do not suggest that water manipulation was the single most significant factor in stimulating social development and complexity – clearly this has been shown as highly reductionist, even misleading. The paper cautiously contributes to proximate prediction of hydrological change by attempting to understand the complexity of coupled human-hydrological systems.

The Rational Politics of Cultural Nationalism: Subnational Movements of South Asia in Comparative Perspective

1995 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Subrata K. Mitra
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Cultural Nationalism ◽  
The Political ◽  
Central State ◽  
Political Resources ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Historical Accounts ◽  
Precise Moment ◽  
Special Case

The recent politics of South Asia has been dominated by separatist movements that have waged violent struggles to assert their control over parts of existing national states. The precise moment of the outbreak of these movements is influenced by the perception of the geopolitical context by their leaders and the stability of the central state against which they rebel. But their main driving force originates from a shared belief in their unique and distinct cultural identity, which, in their eyes, justifies their right to an exclusive homeland. This article examines subnationalism in South Asia as a special case of cultural nationalism. Subnationalism has long been an anomaly for both liberal and Marxist social theorists, who concede its existence but cannot explain it adequately. The analysis undertaken here moves beyond the sociological and historical accounts of the origins and evolution of subnationalism in South Asia by formulating a political explanation drawing on theories of rational choice and collective action. The article argues that (a) leaders of subnationalist movements draw on both sentiments and interests, and (b) the direction and pace of these movements are influenced by the political resources that they are able to mobilize. Though the case studies on which the article draws are mainly from South Asia, the model that underpins them is applicable to other cultural and temporal contexts as well.

scholarly journals Foreword to BIOMATH 2017 Proceedings: Some comments on mathematical modelling and biomathematics.

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacek Banasiak
Keyword(s):  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Quadratic Equation ◽  
Mathematical Methods ◽  
Modern Biology ◽  
Eugene Wigner ◽  
Ancient Civilizations ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
External Stimuli

Both biology and mathematics have existed as well established branches of science for hundreds of years and both, maybe not in a well defined way, have been with the humankind for a couple of thousands of years.  Though nature  was studied by the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indian subcontinent and China, the origins of modern biology are typically traced back to the ancient Greece, where Aristotle (384-322 BC) contributed most extensively to its development. Similarly,  the  ancient Babylonians were able to solve quadratic equation over four millennia ago and we can see the development of mathematical methods in all ancient civilisations, notably in China and on the Indian subcontinent. However, possibly again the Greeks were the first who studied mathematics for its own sake, as a collection of abstract objects and relations between them.  Nevertheless, despite the fact that the development  of such a mathematics has not required any external stimuli, an amazing feature of the human mind is that a large number of abstract mathematical constructs has proved to be very well suited for describing natural phenomena.This prompted Eugene Wigner to write his famous article The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences,  ...

scholarly journals DESIGNING THE SOVIET IDENTITY (THROUGH THE EXAMPLE OF ELYOR ISHMUKHAMEDOV’S FILMS TENDERNESS AND LOVERS)

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 33-62
Author(s):  
SVETLANA Ya. SHCHEBROVA ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Cultural Transformation ◽  
Semiotic System ◽  
Main Research ◽  
The People ◽  
Life Model ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Stability ◽  
The Masses

The article studies the Soviet identity, which fell into a crisis in the context of globalization and ethnic localization, gradually intensifying after the collapse of the USSR. In response to the decay of the Soviet mentality, it is necessary to understand how to overcome the split in society and make the process of cultural transformation under modernization conditions less painful for people. One of the mechanisms of forming the cultural identity of peoples is an appeal to the positive experience in common history. Simply copying the previous forms and means of forming cultural identity is impossible, since socio-economic foundations change; therefore, the problem needs a different solution. Exploring the Soviet past, one can understand which ideological values contributed to the consolidation of society in order to use this experience in construction of Russian civilizational identity. The purpose of the article is to study the films by Elyor Ishmukhamedov Tenderness (1966) and Lovers (1969) as “texts” that construct Soviet identity by dint of the recognition and acceptance of the ideal life model by the society. Since humans transform themselves and the world around them through an imitation, the main research questions are as follows: what social interaction features can be identified in these films? What is the appeal of the Soviet discourse and how is it transmitted in such seemingly “non-ideological” films? Ishmukhamedov’s films were studied as a semiotic system, in which the main myths and archetypes were revealed that had a manipulative and mobilizing influence on the viewer, thereby creating an image of a Soviet person which is attractive to the masses. The everyday life captured in these films symbolizes the stability and reliability of living in the USSR and Central Asia in the 1960s. After analyzing the figurative system of the Soviet-time everyday life in Ishmukhamedov’s films, the author finds out that identity is a system consisting of ethnic, cultural, age, natural, social, professional, mental, artifact identities, as well as the identity of the genus and small groups, which set the models and patterns of behavior for a Soviet person, which patterns were accepted and copied by the people.

Orientalist fantasy in the poetic dialogues of Solomon and Saturn

2005 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 117-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Powell
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Religious Faith ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Corpus Christi ◽  
Christian Culture ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Lack Of Knowledge

A tenth-century ‘orientalist’ fantasy informs the poetic dialogues of Solomon and Saturn and serves to screen certain anxieties about the cultural identity of the English people. By placing these poems in the context of other vernacular works circulating in the tenth century, I would suggest that anxieties about the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge, the stability of kingdoms and the efficacy of religious faith were likely to have been prevalent at the time when the poems were preserved in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 422. The Solomon and Saturn poems address these anxieties by displacing any lack of knowledge, political stability or faith onto the Eastern and pagan figure of Saturn and the Chaldean people he represents, while English readers are encouraged to identify with the ideals and behaviours of the Christian figure of Solomon. In this way, the poems construct a degraded East as a support for English, Christian culture.

scholarly journals A novel mutation alters the stability of PapA2 resulting in the complete abrogation of sulfolipids in clinical mycobacterial strains

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vipul N Panchal ◽  
Nidhi Jatana ◽  
Anchal Malik ◽  
Bhupesh Taneja ◽  
Ravikant Pal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Novel Mutation ◽  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
Genomic Alteration ◽  
Binding Motif ◽  
Specific Mutation ◽  
Adaptive Mechanisms ◽  
A Genome ◽  
Important Correlation ◽  
Distinct Lineage ◽  
The Stability

The analysis of whole genome has revealed specific geographical distribution of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) strains across the globe suggestive of unique host dependent adaptive mechanisms in Mtb evolved out of selective pressures. We provide an important correlation of a genome-based mutation to a molecular phenotype across two predominant clinical Mtb lineages of the Indian subcontinent. We have identified a distinct lineage specific mutation-G247C, translating into an alanine to proline conversion in the papA2 gene of Indo oceanic lineage 1 [L1] Mtb strains; restoration of cell wall sulfolipids by simple genetic complementation of papA2 from lineage 3 [L3] or from H37Rv (Lineage 4- L4) attributed the loss of this glycolipid to this specific mutation in Indo oceanic L1 Mtb. Investigation into the structure of Mtb PapA2 revealed a distinct non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) C domain conformation with an unconventional presence of Zinc binding motif. Surprisingly, the A83P mutation did not map to either the catalytic centre in the N-terminal subdomain or any of the substrate binding region of the protein. On the contrary, the inherent ability of mutant PapA2 to form insoluble aggregates and molecular simulations with the Wt/ mut PapA2 purports an important role for the surface associated 83rd residue in protein conformation. The present study demonstrates the importance of a critical structural residue in the papA2 protein of Mtb and helps establish a link between observed genomic alteration and its molecular consequence in the successful human pathogen Mtb.

scholarly journals Studying Genealogy as a Factor of Cultural Self-Identification of the Person

Discourse ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-71
Author(s):  
M. E. Kudryavtseva
Keyword(s):  
Family History ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Protective Mechanisms ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
History Of ◽  
Internet Study ◽  
Cultural Self ◽  
The Stability

Introduction. The paper considers the problem of cultural identity influenced by the study of ancestry. The scientific novelty of this paper is due to the attention to the psychological aspects of self-identity under the influence of the study of person, her or his ancestry, and, above all, in a situation of detection of undesirable information about his or her family's past. It is hypothesized that motifs associated with the need to rethink its social role in terms of responsibility for the acts of their ancestors, do not play a significant role in the study of family history.Methodology and sources. The paper analyzes the results of the pilot Internet study conducted to determine the motives and methods of the study of person's ancestry, as well as the stability of interest in this activity. The target audience of this study were all who are interested in learning their ancestors, regardless of age or occupational category. The questionnaire used was semi-closed. A total of 154 people were interviewed.Results and discussion. The results showed that 46.8 % of respondents interest in their ancestry has a playful nature; 37.0 % desire through your family history to better understand the history of their country; 33.0 % of respondents are interested in their ancestry in order to better understand the reasons for their behavior (which is a necessary component of self identification); 32.0 % would like to find ancestors, who could be proud of. Nevertheless, in the case of unsolicited information about the life of their ancestors, are ready to make conclusions about his or her own life less than four percent of the respondents.Conclusion. The author believes that the paper put forward the hypothesis that motifs associated with the need to rethink its social role in terms of responsibility for the acts of their ancestors, do not play a significant role in the study of family history is confirmed by the results of the study. In case of detection of unwanted results, mainly protective mechanisms are becoming actual, ensuring the preservation of psychological comfort.

Conflicting Signals of Climatic Change in the Upper Indus Basin

2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (17) ◽  
pp. 4276-4293 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. J. Fowler ◽  
D. R. Archer
Keyword(s):  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
Summer Temperature ◽  
Indus Basin ◽  
Maximum Temperature ◽  
Seasonal Temperature ◽  
Western Himalayas ◽  
Upper Indus Basin ◽  
Summer Temperatures ◽  
Instrumental Records ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Temperature data for seven instrumental records in the Karakoram and Hindu Kush Mountains of the Upper Indus Basin (UIB) have been analyzed for seasonal and annual trends over the period 1961–2000 and compared with neighboring mountain regions and the Indian subcontinent. Strong contrasts are found between the behavior of winter and summer temperatures and between maximum and minimum temperatures. Winter mean and maximum temperature show significant increases while mean and minimum summer temperatures show consistent decline. Increase in diurnal temperature range (DTR) is consistently observed in all seasons and the annual dataset, a pattern shared by much of the Indian subcontinent but in direct contrast to both GCM projections and the narrowing of DTR seen worldwide. This divergence commenced around the middle of the twentieth century and is thought to result from changes in large-scale circulation patterns and feedback processes associated with the Indian monsoon. The impact of observed seasonal temperature trend on runoff is explored using derived regression relationships. Decreases of ∼20% in summer runoff in the rivers Hunza and Shyok are estimated to have resulted from the observed 1°C fall in mean summer temperature since 1961, with even greater reductions in spring months. The observed downward trend in summer temperature and runoff is consistent with the observed thickening and expansion of Karakoram glaciers, in contrast to widespread decay and retreat in the eastern Himalayas. This suggests that the western Himalayas are showing a different response to global warming than other parts of the globe.

scholarly journals Moda i semiotika roda

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 839
Author(s):  
Iva Jestratijević
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Gender Norms ◽  
The Body ◽  
Gender Identification ◽  
Special Significance ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Gender Category ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Stability

Contemporary studies of fashion interpret articles of clothing as text, through which a specific cultural identity is constructed and expressed. As identities are momentarily realized through the performative act of identifying with a real or ideal subject, fashion has a special significance in every visual creation of a subject as the identity of a given role. In accordance with this, the dressing of the body is viewed as one of the available means of gender identification, as well as a way to confirm the subject through the performing of the assigned role of man and woman. Seeing as the performance of a certain role, in this specific case, entails the existence of the subject as event (of a textual) role, the sphere of clothing fashion is in this paper primarily connected to the sphere of representing the subject as member of a gender category. Clothing is viewed as one in a slew of instruments of gender naturalization, in the sense of the power which clothing has for upholding, performing and displaying the stability of gender norms. Hence, this paper will consider always current issues of the existence of established boundaries of male and female fashion, male and female clothing ornaments and colors, as well as socially acceptable male and female forms of clothing.

scholarly journals Overview and Challenges of Chinese Folklore Photography

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 39
Author(s):  
Ting Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
National Culture ◽  
Human Society ◽  
The Future ◽  
Ancient Civilizations ◽  
Cultural Connotations

Folklore is an important component of a national culture. With the advance of human society, old traditions exude more lasting charm. This is not just out of nostalgia but from a national cultural identity. Folklore photography is an image-based visual embodiment of the historical value of folklore and contributes to cultural recording and inheritance. It displays an unparalleled power of expression in all forms of art. In China, a multi-ethnic country with one of the world’s greatest ancient civilizations, folklore photography shows rich and varied cultural connotations and forms of expression. This paper first introduces the value and significance of Chinese folklore photography, then reviews the important stages of its development and analyzes the difficulties and challenges therein, and finally looks into the future of Chinese folklore photography.

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