Reconstructing the curricular development process : the insider's narrative / The Eklavya Team -- Civics curriculum and textbooks / Amman Madan -- Geography curriculum and textbooks / Yemuna Sunny and Kamala Menon -- History curriculum and textbooks / Tripta Wahi -- Social science texts : a pedagogic perspective / Poonam Batra and Disha Nawani -- Dynamics of knowledge and praxis : a view from the field / The Eklavya Team -- Conclusion / Poonam Batra
At the very moment that humanity is facing a broadening ecological crisis, and that both policy makers and civil society are calling for a transition towards more sustainable societies, modern science seems incapable of providing operational solutions for managing this transition. In this context, both Noble prize laureates and high-level science officials have stressed the need of an in depth transformation of the modes of organization of scientific research for governing the transition to sustainable societies. However, existing analyses of on-going initiatives show that most of the barriers to a major, consolidated effort in sustainability science will not be removed without far-reaching institutional change. To address this challenge, this paper proposes an incremental institutional change approach, based on a gradual institutionalization process of existing initiatives. The analysis in this paper shows that strategic research for sustainability and reform of research funding mechanisms will only be effective if they are supported at the same time by reforms of career and training paths at higher education institutions. To promote this vision, the paper proposes a set of capacity building measures that can be undertaken at the level of research funding, higher education institutions and networking.
After years of political crises and negotiations, the deep-rooted conflict between Dutch- and French-speaking parties recently led to the 2011 agreement concerning a further reform of the Belgian state. This reform mainly furthers decentralises the – already federal – state structure, including the allocation of additional competences and fiscal powers to sub-national entities (Regions and Communities). But this new state reform also brings about a radical reform of the upper house: the Belgian Senate. Since 1995, the Senate was composed of three different types of members: Senators directly elected by two linguistically separated electorate (the Dutch-speaking and the French-speaking electorates), Senators indirectly elected by the Community parliaments and Senators coopted by the two other types. The French- and German-speaking linguistic minorities had a fixed amount of seats in this assembly. The reform of the state radically changed the legislative competences of the Senate and its composition as its members will now be designated by Regional and Community parliaments (plus 10 coopted senators). Broadly speaking, the appointment of the majority of the Senators moved from a system of direct and language-based election to a system of indirect and mixed regional and language-based designation. This change is not without consequence for the representation of linguistic minorities. In May 2014, regional, community and federal elections will be organised in Belgium, testing for the first time this new system of designation of Senators by regional and community parliaments. This paper intends to present the 2013 reform of the Senate in Belgium and its consequence for the representation of linguistic minorities. The situations before and after the reform of the Senate will be compared, not only in terms of the way Senators are appointed but in terms of its consequence on the linguistic aspects of the regional and community elections campaign and of the profile of the appointed Senators.
One of the first ethnographic studies to explore use of social media in the everyday lives of people in Tamil Nadu, Social Media in South India provides an understanding of this subject in a region experiencing rapid transformation. The influx of IT companies over the past decade into what was once a space dominated by agriculture has resulted in a complex juxtaposition between an evolving knowledge economy and the traditions of rural life. While certain class tensions have emerged in response to this juxtaposition, a study of social media in the region suggests that similarities have also transpired, observed most clearly in the blurring of boundaries between work and life for both the old residents and the new.
Venkatraman explores the impact of social media at home, work and school, and analyses the influence of class, caste, age and gender on how, and which, social media platforms are used in different contexts. These factors, he argues, have a significant effect on social media use, suggesting that social media in South India, while seeming to induce societal change, actually remains bound by local traditions and practices. - दक्षिण भारत पर सामाजिक मीडिया, जो तमिलनाडु में लोगों के दैनिक जीवन में सामाजिक मीडिया के उपयोग पर अन्वेषण करनेवाले पहले के नृवंशवैज्ञानिक अध्ययनों पर एक है, तेज़ी परिवर्तन का अनुभव करनेवाले एक क्षेत्र में इस विषय का ज्ञान प्रदान करता है. जो एक समय कृषि से हावी किया गया था, उस क्षेत्र पर पिछले दशक में आईटी कंपनियों का प्रवेश, एक उद्विकासी ज्ञान अर्थव्यवस्था और ग्रामीण जीवन की परिपाटी के बीच एक जटिल मुकाबला का कारण बन गया है. जबकि इस मुकाबले के उत्तरक्रिया के रूप में कुछ वर्गीय तनाव प्रकट हुए हैं, इस क्षेत्र के सामाजिक मीडिया पर अध्ययन इसका प्रस्ताव करता है कि समरूपता का भी पता चलता है, जो पुराने और नए निवासियों के काम और जीवन की सीमाओं के धुंधुला होने से अधिक स्पष्ट रूप से अवलोकन किया जाता है.
वेंकटरामन घर, काम और स्कूल पर सामाजिक मीडिया के प्रभाव पर अन्वेषण करते हैं और वर्ग, जाति, उम्र और लिंग के प्रभाव पर इसका विश्लेशण करते हैं कि जैसे और जो सामाजिक मीडिया के मंच विभिन्न सन्दर्भों पर उपयोग किये जाते हैं. वे ऐसा तर्क करते हैं कि ये कारक के सामाजिक मीडिया के उपयोग पर महत्वपूर्ण प्रभाव होता है और इसका प्रस्ताव करते हैं दक्षिण भारत में सामाजिक मीडिया, यद्यपि सामाजिक परिवर्तन को प्रेरित करने लगता है, वास्तव में सामाजिक परिपाटी और प्रयोग से सीमित हैं.
