Crossing Borders and Trading Stories: Bhutias and the Eastern Duar Exchange from Pre-colonial to Colonial Eras

Living with drought: a study of spatial mobility in semi-arid Northeast Brazil

The authors provide evidence that social ethics claims on food packaging (e.g., fair trade) can promote the misperception that foods are lower-calorie and therefore appropriate for greater consumption. In Study 1, participants evaluating chocolate provided lower calorie judgments when it was described as fair trade—a claim silent on calorie content but signifying that trading partners received just compensation for their work. Further establishing this effect, Study 2 revealed that chocolate was perceived as lower-calorie when a company was simply described as treating its workers ethically (e.g., providing excellent wages and health care) as opposed to unethically (e.g., providing poor wages and no health care) among perceivers with strong ethical food values, consistent with halo logic. Moreover, calorie judgments mediated the same interaction pattern on recommendations of consumption frequency, suggesting that amid the ongoing obesity crisis, social ethics claims might nudge some perceivers to overindulge. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed.

Despite China's rapid economic growth and embedding into global value chains, not much is known about the primary places where buyers and sellers from China and abroad meet, do business, and circulate information and knowledge: That is, the national/international trade fairs in the country. Previous reports suggest that the number and size of such events in China is growing and that the trade fair business is in the process of catching up. Under these circumstances, trade fairs may develop into import or export events, where buyers and sellers engage in transactions, or into temporary clusters, where they exchange knowledge for industrial upgrading and innovation. In this context this paper explores the interaction and communication patterns of firms at Chinese trade fairs and investigates whether these events are similar to those in Europe and North America. The analysis involves systematic comparison of the communication and interaction practices at three national/international trade fairs in Shanghai and Chengdu, based on a total of 102 semistructured interviews.

The quantification of species diversity is essential in several aspects of ecology, including conservation biology, and as an indicator of the well-being of ecological systems. However, species diversity of the wetland birds in the seasonal reservoirs in the dry zone of Sri Lanka has received very little attention. In the present study, an attempt was made to determine the species diversity of wetland birds of 20 seasonal reservoirs in Anuradhapura and Monaragala Districts during both migratory and non-migratory seasons. A total of 46 species of aquatic birds belonging to 17 families (represent 7 orders) were recorded during the present study in selected seasonal reservoirs in the two districts. Overall, both bird species richness and abundance were higher in Anuradhapura district compared to Monaragala District. However, there were more bird species in both districts during migratory seasons. We have detected significant seasonal differences in species diversity estimated by both the Shannon-Wiener Index (F=3.926; P <0.1) and Simpson’s Index (F=3.718; P <0.1). This suggests that there was a significantly higher diversity of wetland birds during the migratory season. Species-area relationships suggested that the species richness of wetland birds associated with seasonal reservoirs would increase as the reservoir size increases. However, these relationships represented weak correlations (R2 range = 0.331–0.645). Overall our study indicates that seasonal reservoirs in Sri Lanka support a diverse community of wetland birds and provide a strong example for a case of enhancement of biological diversity through human activities by creating artificial habitats.

Kojin Karatani The Structure of World History: From Modes of Production to Modes of Exchange, trans. Michael K. Bourdaghs, Duke University: Durham, 2014, 352 pp: 9780822356769, US $94.95 (cloth) The renowned Japanese theorist Kojin Karatani offers an impressive and thought-provoking approach in this work, which emphasises modes of exchange over modes of production as the basis for understanding world history. Building on his earlier work in Transcritique: On Kant and Marx, Karatani continues with the argument that modern capitalist nations are composed of a tripartite system of capital, nation and state. This capital-nation-state operates as a closed circuit, with each part reinforcing the other. Specifically, this is achieved when a capitalist economy emerges, leading to increased economic inequality and conflict. The nation, emphasising notions of community and equality, uses the apparatus of the state to tax, redistribute, and regulate capital. Karatani argues that this creates a 'Borromean knot', with the three parts so linked that if one is missing, the entire structure falls apart. Karatani continues with this argument by stating that in order to arrive at a better understanding of the structure of world history, social scientists should focus on the modes of exchange as an organising category, and turn away from an over-emphasis on modes of production. By doing so, Karatani argues that there are essentially four modes of exchange. The first (mode A) consists of gift-counter gift reciprocity. This is seen in the social formations of primarily 'archaic societies', where items are given and reciprocated. This includes property, food, land, services, rituals, people, etc. Two important points Karatani makes concerning this mode of exchange are (1) that it does not solely exist in archaic societies, but can continue in general in many different periods; and (2) that mode A is not a form of exchange seen within communities or households. This continues with Marx's challenge of classical political economists, who over-emphasised exchange between individuals. Karatani argues that this mode of exchange occurs primarily as an outward expression between other groups. Also, gifts and trade are not the only ways in which exchange occurs in these communities. Blood feuds, as well as practices such as potlatch, are seen in this mode of exchange, with the result being an absence of centralised power, and an emphasis on communal norms. In the second form of exchange (mode B), a state-like apparatus is seen in which interaction between different communities is required in order to exercise power. One community plundering another is one form this exchange takes, but the plunder itself is not the only form of exchange. As Karatani writes, 'If a community wants to engage in continuous plunder, the dominant community cannot simply carry out acts of plunder ... it must protect the dominated community from other aggressors, as well as foster it through public works ... Herein lies the prototype of the state' (p. 6). The third type of exchange (mode C) is a capitalist economy in which commodities are exchanged. No longer compelled to exchange through the communal obligations found in mode A, or through the violence imposed by mode B, this mode of exchange operates under a principle of 'freedom', with money and commodities exchanging due to the creation of a market. This is the basis of the capitalist society in which we live today. This freedom, of course, does not imply equality. As Karatani argues, the lack of limits for capitalist accumulation, coupled with the decline of the reciprocity found in mode A, leads to unprecedented class divisions in society. These three distinct modes of exchange have different emphases in different time periods and places. …

This study explored contributors to a society’s resilience to conflict in a multiethnic community in Rakhine State of Myanmar. It examined how a society’s resilience to conflict was related to economic and sociocultural interactions between diverse communities, presence of security forces in a community’s neighboring areas, physical isolation from outsiders, people’s rumour verification practices, presence of civil society organizations (CSOs) and community based organizations (CBOs), and efficient community leadership. A survey of 1,668 respondents in 27 conflict-unaffected and conflict-affected villages and interview with 1,200 respondents was conducted among members of diverse ethnic groups across Rakhine State. Results suggested that there was a significant and positive correlation between a society’s resilience to conflict and each of ‘economic interactions’ (P = .000), ‘sociocultural interactions’ (P = .000), ‘presence of security forces in a community’s neighboring areas’ (P = .000), and ‘efficient community leadership’ (P = .000). Despite each individual of these independent variables being weakly correlated with the dependent variable, their combined effect strongly correlated with the dependent one. On the other hand, a society’s resilience to conflict negatively correlated with each of ‘physical isolation from outsiders’ (P = .001) and ‘people’s rumour verification practices' (P = .000). However, a society’s resilience to conflict hardly correlated with ‘presence of civil society organizations (CSOs) and community based organizations (CBOs)’, with only less than 1% of respondents in both conflict resilient and vulnerable areas articulating the significant role of these organizations in preventing intercommunal conflict in their areas.

Consumer practices in consumer capitalist societies are increasingly reflexively addressing mainstream circuits of commercialization, with consumers being voluntarily engaged in alternative, responsible, or critical consumption. Each of these labels tends to stress a particular aspect of consumer practices as being different from mainstream commercialism, showing consumers’ commitment to other people's welfare and nature and expressing consumers’ capacity to think critically about their lifestyle and the world of goods. In broader terms, critical consumption indicates protest initiatives such as boycotts and campaigns against multinational powers as well as affirmative initiatives such as various forms of responsible purchase, exchange, and lifestyle. The former, more typically labeled “negative political consumerism” (Micheletti et al. 2004), is often studied as demonstrating the widening of protest repertoires in contemporary alter‐global movements. The latter is more often addressed within the study of consumer cultures and their politics. Both these phenomena are becoming widespread especially in the West. The European Social Survey has shown that approximately one third of Europeans have boycotted certain goods or/and have bought goods for political and ethical reasons. In particular, positive critical consumption initiatives from ethically coded products such as Fair Trade goods or organic produce, and networks of provision and consumption alternative to mainstream, mass‐market relations such as farmers’ markets or box schemes, have been steadily on the rise for nearly two decades in late capitalist economies. At times this has entailed remarkable rates of growth – such as Fair Trade coffee growing a spectacular 67 percent per year in the US market (Arnould 2007; Harrison, Newhold, & Shaw 2005; Lyon & Moberg 2010).

The Japanese philosopher and literary critic, Karatani Kōjin, offered a new approach to understanding world history with his 2010 book Sekaishi no Kōzō (The Structure of World History: From Modes of Production to Modes of Exchange). In this text he outlines how economic activity can historically be thought of through three forms of exchange: the nation, the state and capital. Within this fundamental shift in reorganizing the past is an invitation to also think about the relation of politics and space. Arguably each mode of exchange also produces particular types of spaces within a capitalist landscape and points to the problem of producing a politics that neglects the relation between capitalism and space. Thus, the aim of this paper is to situate Karatani’s philosophy of history into a concrete historical space to explore how the social form of Capital-Nation-State operates on an everyday level. To this end, I suggest that Yasukuni Jinja, the Tokyo shrine dedicated to commemorating Japan’s war dead, be thought of as a space that facilitates these three forms of exchange through the nexus of Empire-Ritual-Emperor. By examining everyday life on the shrine grounds, it is possible to observe acts of reciprocity (Nation), plunder and redistribution (State), as well as commodity exchange (Capital) and thus it can help illuminate how these three forms of exchange became fused together.

In the colonial era, the colonists had established style of architecture that are in response to warmth and humid climate context. Without any hesitation, past era colonists had apparently established own effect on development of architecture. This type of colonial buildings in Aden city, Yemen, also consists of a series of styles, a mixture of Indian and Arab cultures. These special and unique styles of architecture and motives possess heritage values. The motive behind the establishment of the colonial towns and buildings was to dominate the regional trade and to exploit the local economy. The evolutions of architectural styles in Aden city from the pre-colonial era and the colonial period have been a significant story for the growth and development of architectural style design after the post-colonial era. Many of the immigrant’s legacies and cultural inheritance that exists during the colonial era had created substandard impacts on the country’s cultural development and architectural style. This research will employ descriptive analysis to review the impact of colonial building facade design in Aden city of Yemen from 1839 to 1967. This review will create a foundation for further research on the other architectural style of facade design such as classical, neo-classical and baroque style in Aden city.

This study explains trade regimes in Kenya from a History of Economic Thought (HET) perspective using secondary materials (books, papers, and original manuscripts). We found that the pre-colonial era (before 1895) had a mixture of Classical doctrines and Mercantilism, whereby long-distance and barter trade between communities were practiced. Nonetheless, certain communities restricted trade. Classical economic thought was practiced in the colonial period (1895-1962), whereby agricultural produce was exported and less expensive consumables were imported. The post-colonial period started with a Mercantilism approach (Importsubstitution), but successive regimes have promoted Classical doctrines of trade by reducing import and export barriers and creating trade-promotion institutions. Trade in services, which is topical in international trade, has also been promoted in this regime.

This article examines the historical development of the Spanish language on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, where centuries of contact with Yucatec Maya have shaped a distinct regional dialect. The study spans four key phases: pre-colonial, colonial, post-colonial, and contemporary, revealing the dynamics of linguistic synthesis, resistance, and adaptation. During the pre-colonial era (pre-16th century), Yucatan was a center of Maya civilization, with the Yucatec dialect, hieroglyphic writing, and complex socio-religious systems laying the groundwork for subsequent language contact. The colonial period (16th–18th centuries) saw the domination of Spanish through administrative and religious institutions. However, missionaries such as Diego de Landa documented Maya, preserving elements of its lexicon and phonetics. Linguistic synthesis manifested in loanwords, substrate influences on pronunciation and syntax, and covert bilingualism, where Maya persisted in private and ritual contexts. The post-colonial phase (19th–20th centuries) was marked by tensions between language unification policies and Indigenous resistance, particularly during the Caste War (1847–1901). The henequen boom reinforced social stratification, linking Spanish to urban elites and Maya to rural laborers. In the 20th century, educational reforms and the stigmatization of Indigenous languages were counterbalanced by cultural revival and bilingual initiatives. The contemporary era (21st century) is characterized by asymmetric bilingualism: while 30% of the population speaks Maya, its use among youth is declining. Globalization and tourism introduce Anglicisms, yet digital platforms and legal reforms promote revitalization. Unique features of Yucatan Spanish, such as glottal stops, pronoun duplication, and culturally rooted lexicon, endure as markers of regional identity. The article concludes that the future of Yucatan’s linguistic landscape hinges on balancing educational programs, digital inclusion, and cultural preservation. This research contributes to the study of language contact and the challenges of sustaining minority languages in a globalized world.

This research paper explores the rich and dynamic history of India’s criminal justice structure uncovering its transmuting across generations. It digs into four different eras categorized as: ancient, pre-colonial, colonial and post-independence or as we know as modern era. The ancient period experienced the foundational play of dharma a sophisticated concept involving moral law, social order and cosmic balance. Ancient legal texts like Manusmiriti and Arthashastra, accompanying regional customs, laid the foundational stone for maintaining social harmony. Punishments were administered not only to prevent crimes but also to maintain social and cosmic order. The pre-colonial era experienced a changing interplay in diverse legal traditions. Alongside the prevalence of dharma in many regions Sharia law was introduced by the Islamic dynasties. Customs and usages also played a significant role in the pre-colonial era. A codified legal system was introduced in the colonial era. The Indian Penal Code 1860 was introduced in this era by the British. The Indian Penal Code covered not only English common law but also covered various aspects of western framework in an Indian society with distinct customs. Evolution in the Indian legal system can be witnessed in the post independence or modern era. While retaining the British laws as its foundation, news laws were enacted and the old laws were changed to overcome the modern challenges. This research paper investigates how the legal system dealt with cybercrime, terrorism, trafficking and social justice concerns. This research paper analyses and enlightens the readers about the strengths and weaknesses of each era legal framework in India. It also gives an insight regarding the new penal laws introduced by the government. The research studies the ever changing legal system of our country. The paper is a plosive encyclopedia of India’s criminal justice system both in antiquity, pre-British colonial period, British colonial period and post India’s independence. It also highlights some important aspects like dharma, Sharia law, colonization and issues of the contemporary world. Still, one can observe that the manuscript offers a fairly strong ground for further development by integrating the results of case studies, comparisons, and an outline of potential further developments.

This book addresses several of the classic questions in African Studies. In the pre-colonial era what were the sources of order in societies without states? And what were the origins of 'traditional' states in Africa? In the colonial period, what caused the divergent patterns of agricultural development? And what were the issues that drove the peasantry into the rebellions which brought an end to colonial rule? Since independence what has been the fate of the African peasantry? What has been the content of the agricultural policies adopted by the governments of Africa? And how can these policies be accounted for? In answering these questions, the book explores various forms of explanation and advances a form of political economy based upon rational-choice analysis.

This study explains trade regimes and practices in Kenya from a history of economic thought (HET) perspective using secondary materials. We find that the trade landscape in Kenya is divided into three periods: pre-colonial (before 1895), colonial (1895-1962), and post-colonial (1963 to date). The first two eras did not have a clear trade policy. The pre-colonial era had a mixture of classical doctrines and mercantilism whereby long-distance and barter trade between communities were practiced. Nonetheless, certain communities restricted trade. Classical economic thought was practiced in the colonial period (1895-1962), whereby agricultural produce was exported and less expensive consumables were imported. The postcolonial period started with a mercantilism approach (import-substitution) but successive regimes have promoted classical doctrines of trade by reducing import and export barriers, and creating trade-promotion institutions. Trade in services, which is topical in international trade, has also been promoted in this regime. JEL Codes: B10, B17, B20, B27

Masjid Demak (Demak Mosque), one of the oldest mosques in Java, built-in 1577 AD, had undergone several renovations and restorations as well as political scrutiny in different periods of history. The first renovations happened in the pre-colonial era when the Mosque was adapted to fit with the needs of people’s praying space. During the colonial period, especially after the Java war, there were political conflicts concerning the conservation of Demak Mosque between the Dutch and the native aristocrat (Sultan Pakubuwono VII and the Regent of Sumenep). In the Post-colonial era, especially in the New Order period, the Regime used the articulation of traditional Architectures, which were also heritage buildings, as a reference to form a monumental legacy as part of its political identity. This is not the act of conservation; instead of using the simulations or replicating heritage buildings as a strategy to control people’s identity. The conservation that belongs to native society becomes an important medium to form the political identity of a particular regime or power. This paper focuses on the issue of politics of the heritage that happens in the Demak Mosque from different periods of time, such as pre-colonial and colonial, until post-colonial time. The historical narratives of the Demak Mosque rely on various sources such as archives, literature, and other media to illustrate the political relationship between the Architectural heritage and power that happened in Demak Mosque.KeywordsPoliticsHeritageConservationDemakMosqueIndonesia