Research
Rural Conflicts and Alliance Formation: A Cultural Strategy
Conflict is a form of competition between groups or individuals over incompatible goals, scarce resources, or power making sources to acquire them. In Asia, particularly in India and Pakistan, socio-cultural conflicts exist not only in villages but also urban areas where most of the time dominating biradaries involved in such conflict to sustain their power within the society. Present research is about grouping/alliance formation and its relation with village conflicts in District Lodhran of Punjab- Pakistan. Biradaries/caste’s are observed as the key determinant of such alliance formation. Data of 153 respondents show that biradari plays a key role to develop influences leading to separate groups and factions. Biradari with 66.67% percentile emerged as the major cause behind power group formation, politics with 27.45% percent and religion with 5.88 percent. The Biradari system is very strong in the area, with people mostly living in joint family systems thus the groups formed are also influenced by the biradaries. Main causes of rural conflicts were; women issue, land conflicts, biradari concerns and honor.
Exposing Indigenous Punjab to Modern Technology: An Anthropological Analysis
The current day development models proclaim and promise for self sufficiency and sustainability for the masses especially whenever there is a debate over rural development issue in the third world countries like Pakistan. In fact the today’s world is fast approaching the sustainable livelihood strategies which unfortunately failed to bring about the results assured. Failure of Green Revolution has made the scholars, professionals and development practitioners to repondoner the western development model particularly those promising agricultural development. The western developmental approaches basically imbedded in the capitalistic ethos resulted for radical changes while increasing the rural dependence on the urban areas and even upon the international multinational corporations. These new interventions erased the traditional self reliance of country side and thus became an indirect reason for rural urban migration. The current paper is an attempt to throw light on the effects of modern technology upon the cultural life of people of a village Sacha Soda in the district Sheikhupura of the Punjab province. The paper evaluates the indigenous people’s views on Mechanized Agricultural Methods in terms of Economic Sustainability and Cultural Compatibility.
Socio-Material Conflicts and Suggested Agencies for Resolution. An Anthropological Perspective of Rural Pakistan
The current research was conducted to study different dimensions of social and material conflicts; it’s different features, faces and also recommendations to enhance and strengthen the harmony and social management in the Village Khewaywali, (Tehsil Wazirabad) of District Gujranwala. The sample of 268 was drawn at the estimated population (876 households). A mix of anthropological tools were used to both study qualitatively and quantitatively the issues of conflicts at typical Punjabi rural community. One adult male member form every sampled household was interviewed after taking verbal communal consent. The research encompassed the reason(s) of conflict within a caste and between different castes in the village. The research proved to discover findings on both material and social conflicts in different castes of the village bisected by profession; the research also explored various socio-cultural reasons creating different material and social conflicts and recommendations to overcome disputes in an effective and efficient manner.
Devolution Plan: New Insights for Actualizing Local Level Empowerment
This paper is written with aim to point out the local level hurdles and socio-cultural factors responsible for malfunctioning of Devolution Plan. The authors have their professional impression on the basis of empirical data from local level community interactions that development of any nation or region is only possible when there is a distinct demarcation between development activities and interventions to be managed by top developmental intelligentsia or by just enhancing local level participation and sense of ownership. Historically, the province of Punjab witnessed a local level selfreliant approach to manage its livelihoods. The same if revitalized could help bring people realize that they have control over their resources (both social and natural) and they are capable enough to plan for the improvements in their livelihoods according to the ever-changing socioenvironmental conditions. The local government concept is not new to the land rather it has a long history; devolution plan is merely a new approach into it. The barriers described in current papers debar realization of true and effective local level development, self reliance and social empowerment through meaningful decentralization.
