Life Of Poverty Research Articles

Zarruq's Tradition in Muslim Scholarship

62 Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. XXXVII, No.1, Fall 2013 Zarruq’s Tradition in Muslim Scholarship Ghulam Shams-ur-Rehman* Introduction The endeavour to integrate tariqah with shari‘ah—a melding of Sufi devotion with legal rectitude—is a recurring topic in the field of Sufi studies. Ahmad Zarruq (d. 899/1493), one of the most distinguished scholars of North Africa, addressed this issue by proposing the concept of juridical sainthood. He sought to unite spirituality and law through the application of Sunnah, presenting his synthetic vision of Islam through the Qawa‘id genre which previously only been used for legal and theological matters. Zarruq’s work has long impressed scholars across the Muslim world; however, the current wave of puritanical, anti-Sufi Islam gives the late mediaeval author’s opinions fresh relevance in Sufi circles. My paper aims to present Zarruq’s intellectual tradition and its impact on subsequent Muslim scholarship. I shall trace the roots of Zarruq’s theories by presenting a brief introduction of his best-known works, along with an assessment of their continued importance to evolving Islamic thought. Zarruq devoted himself to his project of the unification of shari‘ah and tariqah—a fusion of legal rectitude with Sufi devotion and piety. He compiled many important commentaries and abridged many books of the Maliki school of law and Shadhili Sufis. Although he spent all his life in poverty and hardship, he was enormously productive producing works up until his death.1 The distinctive feature of his commentaries on the books *Ghulam Shams-ur-Rehman is an assistant professor in the Department of Islamic Studies, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Pakistan. He earned his PhD from the University of Exeter, UK and Post-Doc at Chatham Houses, London, UK. His field of interest is North African Shadhili Sufi and the role of religion in contemporary Afghan society. He published several articles on the role of Sufis in the Pak-Afghan society in historical perspectives. 1 Al-‘Ayyashi notes: “He left nothing in his inheritance except a horse; that was shared with al-Hajj ‘Abd Allah b. Muhammad al-Misrati, a white cap, a jubbah of cotton, a dress and a rosary which was gifted by al-Hadrami and fourteen volumes of his books on various topics.” Al-‘Ayyashi, Abu Salim ‘Abd Allah, al-Rihlah al-‘Ayyashi, (Rabat: 1397/1977), vol. 1, p. 98. 63 of Maliki jurisprudence is the conjunction of juridical commentary with Sufi teachings as it could be observed in his commentary of al-Risalah Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani. Similarly, his Sufi work is highly occupied with theological and juridical interpretations. For example, ‘Uddat al-Murid alSadiq is a guide book for a true disciple of “the way” but its topics, style and arrangement is very close to a work of fiqh. He integrates Islamic theology, jurisprudence and Sufism in a unique style, presenting his conception of an integrated Islam which is the fundamental objective of his writings. For example, the Risalah ibn Abi Zayd is on Maliki jurisprudence. Ibn Abi Zayd briefly noted some theological issues in the prolegomena of Risalah. Zarruq explained them with detailed exposition and emphasized the role of the sunnah and cited the views of al-Hasan [al-Basri], Abu Hamid al-Ghazali and Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili in this effect. Then he writes: “Sunnah is the way of Muhammad (peace be upon him) as mentioned in his sayings, actions and reports whereas bid‘ah is a way contrary to the sunnah. It is a way of reprehensible innovation in the religious matters and one should avoid it and the sunnah is the best to follow.”2 Discussing the theological discourse about the relation of iman and ‘amal (belief and practice), Zarruq writes: “The verbal confession of iman is not completed except with practice, and verbal confession and practice both are conditioned with the purification of intention. All these three elements: verbal confession, practice and the purification of intention are unacceptable unless they are compatible with the Sunnah.”3 Zarruq defines bid‘ah in a very simple way: “Introducing a rule which is not described in the sacred law is reprehensible innovation in religion...

Empowering the marginalized: Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in India

Abstract Social protection programs have been an important part of development process and planning in India since its Independence. However, after sixty-five years, around one-fourth of its population lives in poverty. Despite a plethora of social protection programs, vulnerable groups among the poor have not been well targeted. However, the recent paradigm shift towards rights-based legislations may have hit the right chord with its self-targeting mechanism. The Right to Work, or the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) provided employment to almost 55 million households and spending nearly 8 billion US dollars in April 2010–March 2011. Participation of women and socially backward groups has been exceptionally high. This paper analyzes the policy provisions, implementation and monitoring mechanism of MGNEGA to argue that policy designs with legal enforceable mechanisms and collaborative governance systems can lead to empowerment of the marginalized sections.

Listening to the Voices of the Poor and Disrupting the Silence About Class Issues in Psychotherapy

By its very nature, a life of poverty is harmful to the emotional well-being of poor and working-class women and men. Psychology, for the most part, has unwittingly played a part in this oppression by pathologizing the poor and maintaining barriers to mental health care. This article presents findings from qualitative studies that illustrate lived experiences and insights from poor and working-class people in the community at large and in the therapeutic settings in particular. Drawing from these narratives, recommendations are made to psychologists who seek to subvert the normative silence around class issues and take on the work of providing class-aware services to men and women in poverty.

Accessing community health services: challenges faced by poor people with disabilities in a rural community in South Africa.

Poor people with disabilities who live in poor rural societies experience unique problems in accessing health services. Their situation is influenced by multiple factors which unfold and interplay throughout the person’s life course. The difficulties do not only affect the person with a disability and his or her family, but also impact on the relevant care unit. The barriers are rooted in a life in poverty, upheld and maintained by poverty-reinforcing social forces of the past and the present, and reinforced by the lack of the person’s perspective of the health services. This article explores how difficulties may interact and influence access to and utilisation of health services, and how this may render health services out of reach even when they are available. The study reveals that non-compliance is not necessarily about neglect but could as well be a matter of lived poverty. The study was based on in-depth interviews with people with disabilities and family members, and semi-structured interviews with health personnel. The data analysis is contextual and interpretive. When offering health services to people with disabilities living in resource-poor settings, services should take into consideration the person’s history, the needs, and the resources and abilities of the family group. Rethinking access to health services should transcend a narrow medical institutionalisation of health professional’s training, and include a patient’s perspective and a social vision in understanding and practice. Such rethinking requires health service models that integrate the skills of health professionals with the skills of disabled people and their family members. Such skills lie dormant at community level, and need to be recognised and utilised.

Nigerian malaria: the problems and the fight

Malaria is one of the world’s top killer diseases, especially for the young children. Malaria has remained a major threat to public health and economic development in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Attempts to control or completely eradicate the disease have failed massively as a result of well-known resistance to drugs for the malaria parasite and to insecticides for the vector and the situation has become life-threatening. Though there is collaborative energy both at the international, national and individual level to fight the disease by developing vaccines and new drugs, no-one has produced any permanent result yet. In the field of science, education about understanding the disease has recorded a tremendous progress. After HIV/AIDS, malaria is the second leading cause of death in Africa. It is believe that nearly 1 in every 5 deaths among kids in Africa is as a result of malaria. In my country Nigeria, malaria is a major public health problem where it accounts for more cases and deaths than any country world over. About 97% of my country’s population is at risk for malaria because of their location. It is only 3% of Nigeria’s population live in the malaria free zones. Malaria alone accounts for more than 300,000 deaths each year in Nigeria. This estimate is well above the 215,000 deaths each year from HIV/AIDS. If the above accounts for Nigeria alone how about other 29 Sub-Saharan African countries which together accounts for 90% of the world wide malaria deaths? The vaccine, which has been promised to be ‘just round the corner’ for many years, remains elusive. It is important to ask why this is so, when effective vaccines exist for many other infectious diseases. What are the reasons for the slow rate of progress, and what has been learned from the first clinical trials of candidate malaria vaccines? What are the remaining challenges, and what strategies can be pursued to address them? The remaining major challenge is poverty. About 70% of Nigeria population lives in poverty. Should any permanent remedy be found any time soon, these Sub-Saharan African countries like Nigeria should be the starting point in the fight to eliminating malaria!

Paradoks Desentralisasi dan Kesejahteraan: Kalimantan Timur Kaya Tapi Miskin

East Kalimantan is a province full of paradoxes. This region has considerable economic potential measured in terms of its abundant endowments of natural resources, including oil, natural gas, gold, coal and forestry. Yet, East Kalimantan still lacks infrastructure, has poor human resources and high levels of unemployment, factors that condemn much of the population to a life of poverty and hardship. The new system of regional autonomy, which has been implemented since 2001, was expected to give more benefit to the regions, as regional governments have held relatively more power and fiscal capacity. Law 22/1999, which has been revised twice, has provided more authority to regional governments to manage their respective regions. The introduction of fiscal decentralisation through Law 25/1999, further revised in Law 33/2004, has favoured regions rich in natural resources such as East Kalimantan. As it has abundant natural resources, this region has received greatly increased funds from the central government due to the implementation of sharing revenue formula generated from the exploitation of natural resources. These supposed to give more opportunities for the rich regions such East Kalimantan to accelerate regional development and bring their people to greater prosperity. Nevertheless, East Kalimantan has realized neither the objectives of regional autonomy nor the community aspirations for a more prosperous society. This paper aims to examine the extent to which regional autonomy laws have impacted people's welfare in East Kalimantan.

Excess Winter Mortality of Roma Population in Serbia, 1992-2007

Seasonal fluctuations in mortality are associated with age, outdoor temperature, influenza, health care provision, lifestyle risk factors and economic factors. In the Republic of Serbia almost one half of the Roma population lives in poverty and their housing conditions are very poor. The aim of this paper is to describe and compare excess winter mortality (EWM) in Roma and non-Roma population in Serbia from 1992 to 2007. Using the national mortality database, this study compares EWM index and rates in Roma and general populations in Serbia. Mean winter temperature and ethnicity are analysed against the results for relative EWM by multiple linear regression adjusted for age. Frequency analysis showed that Roma population had significantly higher EWM rate per 10,000 (129.2 vs. 76.6) for all causes, all respiratory diseases (26.5 vs. 8.0), and chronic lower respiratory diseases (23.0 vs. 5.2) in comparison to non-Roma population. Influenza and pneumonia related deaths represented a small proportion of EWM in both populations. Cardiovascular EWM rate was slightly higher among non-Roma population. Regression analysis demonstrates that Roma ethnicity was associated with significant increase of respiratory EWM rate (regression coefficient (B) = 1.49; 95% CI: 0.45-2.54). There was no relationship between ethnicity and cardiovascular and all causes EWM rates. Although both Roma and non-Roma populations in Serbia suffer from very high rates of excess winter mortality, Roma are significantly more vulnerable. EWM rate from chronic lower respiratory diseases is more than four times higher among Roma people and suggests that they represent one of the most important health problems in Roma population in Serbia.

Dimensions of Poverty in Bihar

The removal of nation wide poverty has consistently been one of the main objectives of Indian policy. The Indian modern history contains several examples of discussion on this topic as far back as 1901. India embarked on a series of Five Year Plans, each containing some kind of poverty eradication or social justice component. The First Five Year Plan was launched in 1951, since then, there have been ten additional plans, the most recent being the Eleventh Five Year Plan launched in 2007. The consideration of economic policies vis-a-vis their impact on the poor highlights a continued emphasis by Indian policy makers on poverty elimination. However, there have been serious shortcomings of government efforts in alleviating poverty during the past few decades. Even after sixty five years of independence, one - fourth of India’s Population still lives in poverty. Bihar is amongst the poorest states in India, with poverty incidence of 42.6 per cent. Per capita net domestic product has been estimated to be $ 446 for Bihar which is about one–third of the corresponding national average ($ 1220) and less than one-fourth of Haryana ($ 2052), one of the richest states in India (Government of Bihar, 2011). The recent studies based on primary data dealing with economic and non- economic aspects of poverty are not readily available which are needed to have deeper insights of different dimensions of poverty in Bihar, India. The present study is designed to examine various socio-economic dimensions of poor households in Bihar. the sample consisted of 160 households, 40 each from each sample villages. Data on various socio-economic aspects are being collected through panel interview with the help of well structured schedules by Resident Investigators. In the present study, data collected for the period 2010-2011 have been used for detailed analysis. Data relating to social class, education level, asset, livestock, migration, employment pattern, housing, and drinking water of poor households are considered for meaningful conclusions. This study is based on the information collected from 65 Below Poverty Line (BPL) households of four villages of Bihar. Bihar agriculture was stagnant in eighties and early nineties and observed poor growth up to tenth five year plan. In eleventh five year plan, there has been growth in agriculture sector in Bihar. Bihar is the second poorest state in India. During last 20 years poverty has declined by more than 14 percent but number of poor persons increased during the period. On the basis of analysis of household level data of VDS villages, it may be inferred that the education, land and asset poverty have been prevalent in Bihar villages. Landlessness and low per capita land are also causing poverty in Bihar. The majority of poor persons are getting employment in non-farm sector and migration is main strategy for maintaining livelihood of poor households in Bihar, but majority of persons migrated out-side state and were engaged mainly in non-farm sector. Their access to electricity, improved living condition and sanitation has been very low which may be the cause of their poor health. Despite various programmes of improving access to financial institutions, the majority of poor households of Bihar, particularly of less developed area are still dependents on money lenders for credit facilities. Various poverty alleviation programmes have not been effective in reduction of poverty up to desired level in Bihar. Hence, there is an urgent need to have holistic approach for improving various social and economic dimensions of state for faster reduction in poverty in Bihar.

Social Exclusion of Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon: Reflections on the Mechanisms that Cement their Persistent Poverty

The majority of Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon lives in poverty. This can be observed across a number of socio-economic indicators such as low income and few assets held by the household, poor housing, poor educational achievements, poor health, and others. However, these factors, while completing the picture of what it means to be poor for a Palestinian household, fail to explain the persistence of the low socio-economic status suffered by most Palestinian households. This article argues that restriction of access to major social and occupational institutions of society tremendously affects the living conditions of Palestinian households. Identifying these restrictions as systematic social exclusion, this article outlines mechanisms of exclusion. Particular attention is given to the camp as a form of urban exclusion, aggravating the existing legal discrimination against Palestinian refugees.

La Vita Consacrata Nella Chiesa (review)

Reviewed by: La Vita Consacrata Nella Chiesa Rose Mcdermott S.S.J. La Vita Consacrata Nella Chiesa by Velasio De Paolis. Edited, reviewed and amplified under the care of Vincenzo Mosca. Venice: Marcianum Press, 2010. The text offers a surprise to those canonists familiar with De Paolis' initial commentary on La vita consacrata nella chiesa, (Bologna: Centro Editoriale Dehoniano, 1991). The current work reflects on the present legislation for life consecrated by the evangelical counsels within the context of post codal papal and dicasterial documents such as Vita consecrata, Potissimum institutioni, Elementi Essenziali, Redemptionis donum, and Il servizio dell' auttorità e l'obbedienza. It is not simply a revision of the former commentary as much as an excellent source of theology on consecrated life made practical through the author's reflection on the norms in Book II, Part III of the Code of Canon Law. With this methodology, De Paolis arrives at a far richer approach to the legislation. The more than ample work of 771 pages contains: a Foreword on the importance of consecrated life for the third millennium, an Introduction explaining the theological principles on the vocation from Vatican II to the apostolic exhortation of John Paul II, twenty chapters on the norms on consecrated [End Page 289] life in the code, a Conclusion, a detailed Bibliography, and two Indices listing the names of authors and canons cited with appropriate page numbers. In the Introduction the author explains that conciliar teachings were expounded and explicated in a more profound manner in John Paul II's apostolic exhortation, Vita consecrata. He notes that the conciliar texts raise many issues that demand greater explanation than the conciliar fathers could offer during their limited time frame at the council. The profession of the evangelical counsels has its own special significance in relation to consecration in the sacraments of baptism, crismation and ordination. It involves a transformation of the whole person through a Christ-like witness of life in poverty, chastity and obedience, a more intense imitation of the Son of God. The author raises significant issues which have arisen following the promulgation of the code: 1) the legitimacy of the term consecration used in this way apart from the sacraments; 2) the possibility of married persons as consecrated persons within conjugal life; 3) the place of consecrated life in relation to the hierarchical structure of the Church; 4) consecrated life as a necessary institution; 5) the fact that the laity and clerics in secular institutes retain their status; and 6) the applicability of life consecrated by the evangelical counsels to members of societies of apostolic life without sacred bonds. Having raised the questions, the author addresses them within the twenty chapters in light of conciliar and post conciliar documents and the present legislation. Chapter one explains the preparatory work that went into the format of this section of the code through reflection on the following of Christ presented in chapter V of Lumen gentium as preparatory to chapter VI on religious and the decree Perfectae caritatis. De Paolis explains the rationale behind the title of this third part of the second book of the code and the four principles that guided the work of the coetus. Chapter two describes this vocation in the Church, a divine gift mediated through the profession of the evangelical counsels in various forms through the centuries. Chapters three and four address public juridic persons, the various forms of consecrated life, the possibilities for new forms, associations joined to them, and the competence of ecclesiastical authorities in fostering and protecting this gift of the Spirit in the Church. Chapter five covers the spiritual patrimony of institutes, their rightful autonomy of life, and an explanation of the power [End Page 290] of governance in clerical institutes of pontifical right and the meaning of "exemption." Chapter six provides a detailed treatment of the requisite qualities for admission to an institute of consecrated life within the context of Potissimum institutioni. Chapter seven explains the participation of the laity in the charism and mission of an institute of consecrated life and the laity's yearnings for this association today due to the need for prayer and support in light of a...

Satisfacción de necesidades básicas en Villa Maria del Triunfo - Lima

Objective: Peru is one of the Latinoamerican countries that concentrates more population in cities, and 27.3% of this population lives in poverty. The aim of this study is to determine the level of satisfaction of basic needs, Lima. Methods: Design: We conducted a quantitative descriptive cross-sectional observational study, the sample was 115 families, belonging to the aforementioned Human Settlements. Location: Human Settlements was conducted Las Villas de San Gabriel High and Manolo Castillo, Lima, Peru Participants: Families belonging to the slums in the area above. Intervention: We used the Unsatisfied Basic Needs (UBN), considering access to housing, access to health services, access to education, economic capacity. Descriptive analysis was performed with frequencies and percentages using SPSS 19.0. Results: 99.13% of households own at least 1 NBI, 40.87% of households do not meet basic needs 2 exposed. 0.87% of households were classified as basic needs met. Conclusion: A high percentage of households (99.13%) have at least 1 NBI, the first report in these suburban communities for subsequent use in developing strategies for their modification.

Esamojo laiko formantas <em>-st-</em> išvestiniuose latvių kalbos veiksmažodžiuose

Esamojo laiko formantas <em>-st-</em> išvestiniuose latvių kalbos veiksmažodžiuose

Intercountry Adoption, Children's Rights and the Politics of Rescue

In the preceding article, Peter Selman explores public and state responses to intercountry adoption in the immediate aftermath of the Haiti earthquake. Miranda Davies expands on this topic with a critique of the concept of the ‘best interests of the child’ as the legislative cornerstone governing intercountry adoption. Although the principle recognises children as having ‘agency’, the universality to which it aspires fails to account for the ambiguities involved in its application. This dilemma is exemplified by the politics of rescue, referring to the complex web of interests and relationships that lie behind the perceived altruism of ‘rescuing’ children from a life of poverty, often exacerbated by humanitarian emergencies, to one of wealth, security and opportunities overseas. Descriptions of the experience of intercountry adoptees broaden the debate by raising questions of racial politics, identity and belonging.

The influence of different helminth infection phenotypes on immune responses against HIV in co-infected adults in South Africa

BackgroundThe convergent distribution of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and helminth infections has led to the suggestion that infection with helminths exacerbates the HIV epidemic in developing countries. In South Africa, it is estimated that 57% of the population lives in poverty and carries the highest burden of both HIV and helmith infections, however, the disease interactions are under-researched.MethodsWe employed both coproscopy and Ascaris lumbricoides-specific serum IgE to increase diagnostic sensitivity and to distinguish between different helminth infection phenotypes and their effects on immune responses in HIV co-infected individuals. Coproscopy was done by formol ether and Kato Katz methods. HIV positive and negative adults were stratified according to the presence or absence of A. lumbricoides and/or Trichuris trichuria eggs with or without elevated Ascaris IgE. Lymphocyte subsets were phenotyped by flow cytometry. Viral loads, serum total IgE and eosinophils were also analysed. Lymphocyte activation markers (CCR5, HLA-DR, CD25, CD38 and CD71) were determined. Non parametric statistics were used to describe differences in the variables between the subgroups.ResultsHelminth prevalence ranged between 40%-60%. Four distinct subgroups of were identified, and this included egg positive/high Ascaris-specific IgE (egg+IgEhi), egg positive/low IgE (egg+IgElo), egg negative/high IgE (egg-IgEhi) and egg negative/low IgE (egg-IgElo) individuals. The egg+IgEhi subgroup displayed lymphocytopenia, eosinophilia, (low CD4+ counts in HIV- group), high viral load (in HIV+ group), and an activated lymphocyte profile. High Ascaris IgE subgroups (egg+IgEhi and egg-IgEhi) had eosinophilia, highest viral loads, and lower CD4+ counts in the HIV- group). Egg excretion and low IgE (egg+IgElo) status demonstrated a modified Th2 immune profile with a relatively competent response to HIV.ConclusionsPeople with both helminth egg excretion and high Ascaris-IgE levels had dysregulated immune cells, high viral loads with more immune activation. A modified Th2 helminth response in individuals with egg positive stools and low Ascaris IgE showed a better HIV related immune profile. Future research on helminth-HIV co-infection should include parasite-specific IgE measurements in addition to coproscopy to delineate the different response phenotypes. Helminth infection affects the immune response to HIV in some individuals with high IgE and egg excretion in stool.

Karen Chase, The Victorians and Old Age (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), pp. xiv + 284, £58.00, hardback, ISBN: 978-0-19-956436-1.

Karen Chase is a literary scholar who here examines how old age was represented by some prominent nineteenth-century authors, in particular Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope and Lewis Carroll, but also Charlotte Bronte, Wilkie Collins and Elizabeth Gaskell. She adds a very limited discussion of visual representations of old age at this time. She points out how pervasive older people were in the writing of the period, and how overlooked they have been by scholars. Also, how realistically varied are the characteristics of these older people and their interactions with younger people, especially in the writings of Dickens and Trollope. They are not stereotyped as helpless or inactive. Trollope apparently employed more older characters than any other nineteenth-century fiction writer. In particular, Chase offers an interesting analysis of Trollope’s satire The Fixed Period (1882), which often seems an anomaly in his work. The story involves a fictional British colony in which people are required to retire at the age of sixty-seven, whereafter, they must spend one year in an institution before compulsory death to ensure that they do not block the promotion or prosperity of the younger generation or burden them with the costs of their support. She convincingly represents this as a critique of the notion that was spreading at the time that, at a certain age, people became useless, as compulsory retirement at sixty spread through the civil service (where Trollope had once worked) and state pensions were proposed for the remainder of the population; and of Trollope’s own fear of being unable to work. Not long after, more optimistically, William Morris’ utopia, News from Nowhere (1890) represented older people as long lived, vigorously working and fully integrated with their community. Sometimes the argument is hard to follow for readers not intimately familiar with the works under discussion. Chase’s grasp of the historical context is uneven. Good in parts, but she accepts too readily Laslett’s now much-challenged argument that, because older and younger generations did not normally share a household through centuries of English history, there was little inter-generational support. Support and exchange – from older to younger as well as the reverse – was perfectly possible, and normal, when they could afford it, across the boundaries of separate households in the nineteenth century, as before. Also, perhaps because she knows more about the nineteenth century than about earlier periods, her claims that from the 1870s, the ‘public was aging and, for the first time in numbers and influence great enough to constitute a dominant perspective’, and that society and culture were ‘only just beginning to take old age into full account’ and ‘the aging population was newly visible’ are overstated. People aged over sixty were only about five per cent of the UK population at this time, an exceptionally low proportion compared with ten per cent in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the rapid increase through the twentieth century. She also underestimates the presence of older people in society and in visual and other cultural forms in earlier periods. The book culminates in a discussion of the work of Charles Booth and the proposals for the first state old-age pensions, to which he contributed at the end of the century, taken as emblematic of the changing perceptions of older people. However, Booth’s writings on poverty in old age cannot, as Chase suggests, be seen as seeking to represent the situation of all older people. His primary concern was with poverty and the need to remedy the poverty of too many older people, hence he, among others, proposed pensions. The pensions debate was not, as she claims, simply ‘masculinised’. The plight of men who worked hard for years, only to end their lives in poverty, was a cause of concern, but so was the fact that most older people were female and tended to be poorer than men. When state pensions were introduced in 1908, they took the form they did – non-contributory, not insurance based – because most women could not afford insurance contributions; and Booth was not ‘politically conservative’. The pensions debate was not a product of an unprecedented preponderance of older people or symptomatic of their unusual cultural prominence, but a reformulation of a very old concern about impoverished, marginalised older people, and a sign of the belief that the wealthy country Britain had become, in which poor people were gaining a stronger political voice (aided by Booth among others), should do better by them. The spread of pensions and retirement in the twentieth century did increase age stratification and division, but this was an unintended consequence of a cluster of changes, including a real increase in numbers. This book contains real insights into the literary representation of older people in the nineteenth century. It is less reliable in other respects.

Social Context of Rural Women with HIV/AIDS

The South has more AIDS cases than any other region of the US, with most new diagnoses among African American women (56%). In a previous study, a peer counseling intervention for rural women with HIV/AIDS was developed and tested. The purpose of this analysis was to describe, from the peer counselors’ perspective, the predominant concerns of the women, contextualized by living in isolated, impoverished circumstances in the rural Deep South. Following home visits, peer counselors recorded a description of the encounter. A multidisciplinary qualitative research group extracted, coded, and thematized the chief concerns and context of the women's lives. Findings provide a vivid portrait of HIV-infected women experiencing deeply troubling psychological and physiological symptoms of HIV/AIDS against the contextual ground of poverty and isolation. Themes include: (1) struggle/effort; (2) stigma/hiding; (3) loss/depression; and (4) independence/ dependence. These women lived in extremely difficult life circumstances that reflected not only a devastating chronic illness, but a life of poverty and abuse. Appropriate care for HIV-infected women living in the rural Deep South will need to address the whole context of their lives.

Haj Muhammad Hassan Amin al-Zarb: His World and His Philosophy of Life

This article will explore and analyze the life and times of Haj Muhammad Hassan Amin al-Zarb (1834–1898) who was a self-made man who went on to become Iran's first major entrepreneur and the richest man in Iran. He started life in poverty and obscurity and ended his days in wealth and prominence. His rise to social and economic importance was so meteoric that it became the stuff of legends blending the myth and the reality of his life. He was a visionary with progressive ideas beyond his time. His world view was formed partly by his experiences in childhood and early life but beyond that by his own perspicacity. His cosmos was governed by his devotion to and responsibility for his family both nuclear and extended, by his deep religious belief, by patriotism and by the ambition to succeed in business. The article will investigate all of the above.

The experience of retirement in Britain, past and present

Until quite recently in Britain retirement was possible only for the better-off. Most poorer people, until the mid-twentieth century, worked for survival until they dropped. The rich could always retire when they chose, most others only when required by their occupation or pension scheme. In Britain, externally imposed retirement, with a pension, began in the 19th century in the public service, then spread to cover the whole working population after World War 2, often as a management strategy supposed to improve efficiency. When male manual workers were first obliged to retire they found the sudden transition in their lives an unwelcome shock. Women found it easier because domestic work continued and they generally had closer family and friendship networks to sustain them. Later generations, by the 1960s and 70s learned to look forward to a period of leisure in later life though for many, especially women, it was a life of poverty. But older people were healthier than in the past and often active in voluntary work, caring for grandchildren and others. Retirement ages fell in 1980s and 1990s, then rose again under pressure from government and employers concerned about declining numbers of younger workers and the costs of pensions to growing numbers of older people.

The Mobile Money Movement: Catalyst to Jump-Start Emerging Markets

research around mobile payments with my taxi drivers. Are they familiar with mobile money? Do they use it? How important is it to their daily lives? In the United States, when I tell people that I work in mobile payments, I am met with a confused response. Mobile payments, or mobile money, is still a relatively unknown industry in the U.S. At best, people may associate this industry with buying music or games over iPhones. In contrast, in some emerging markets, mobile money is so pervasive that my taxi drivers can recount transaction fees from memory. On a recent trip to Kenya, I was startled to hear my taxi driver refer to Michael Joseph, the man associated with launching M-PESA and the former CEO of Safaricom, by name. How many CEOs of mobile operators in developed markets are household names? There is something profound taking place with mobile money in emerging markets. There is now a “Mobile Money Movement” with the potential to substantially alter the economic paths of the poor, and of emerging economies at large. For this reason, the private and public sectors alike are now taking notice of this industry. Mobile finance is becoming an increasingly important topic for the World Economic Forum and at the G20 summit. Nearly two-thirds of the world’s population lives in poverty: four billion people live on less than $8.00 USD per day. Most do not have bank accounts, but they do have mobile phones (1.7 billion people by 2012). Mobile money provides an opportunity

The Floating Dwellings of Chong Kneas, Cambodia

The Floating Dwellings of Chong Kneas, Cambodia Tijen Roshko (bio) This study focuses on the community of Chong Kneas, Cambodia—primarily its floating houses—in order to understand the ideas of place making, identity development, sense of belonging, and the crucial role that built environments and object placement play in defining these concepts. The study first discusses social rules and relationships and appropriation practices as the processes that link people to their domestic environments. Next, the paper discusses symbolic oppositions related to gender, age, and kinship; how they are expressed in Cambodian cosmology and in the physical domestic space; and how these oppositions enculturate occupants who live and move through their home environments. The discussion simultaneously deals with dwellings in terms of their structural and cosmological aspects. In a broader framework, this vernacular study investigates the dialectic relationship between the rhythm of the lake and the culture of its inhabitants. Tonle Sap Lake is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia and lies in the central plains of Cambodia. The main tributary of the lake, the Tonle Sap River, exhibits an extraordinary hydrological phenomenon. As the rainy season commences, the excess water from the Mekong River is diverted into both the South China Sea and the river. In the latter case, this excess water actually reverses the direction of flow of Tonle Sap River and leads, as a consequence, to the inundation of 1.25 million hectares of forest and agricultural land for several months each year. During this period, the surface area of the lake more than quadruples from 2,500 square kilometers to 11,000 square kilometers, and its depth increases from one meter to ten meters.1 Periodic flooding has rendered the entire area one of the most fish-abundant regions in the world and, as a consequence of its rich biodiversity, UNESCO declared the area a biosphere reserve in 1997. The people of Cambodia have relied upon the abundance of fish and the agricultural richness of Tonle Sap Lake and the surrounding area for their livelihood for centuries. Tonle Sap Lake plays a key role in shaping the cultural identity, the economic health, and stability of the Cambodian people. The rhythm of the lake defines the rhythm of the culture. The vast majority of the population in the Tonle Sap area lives in poverty; livelihoods depend solely on the resources that the lake has to offer.2 The population density around the Tonle Sap area has varied greatly over the centuries. At the turn of the nineteenth century, the Tonle Sap region was only sparsely populated. However, toward the middle of the nineteenth century, the Khmer people began to move onto the lake for purposes of subsistence fishing. They moved into the area when the fishing season was most favorable and, once they had harvested enough fish for their yearly consumption, returned to their villages. Subsistence fishing was easily learned and required only a very small initial financial investment. Inexpensive gillnets and dip nets were used to catch fish and, once the amount for daily consumption was set aside, the rest of the catch was sold to buy rice. Khmer presence at the lake became more prominent after the Khmer Rouge regime disbanded. The trend toward increased [End Page 43] settlement in floating villages continues today; reasons include lack of land tenure, family disputes, economic issues, and lack of education and skills. An estimated 80,000 people live in floating villages around Tonle Sap, and the Khmer population makes up the majority.3 Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. Vietnamese houseboat, 2007. Photograph by author. While Cambodian villages are predominantly located on the land surrounding Tonle Sap Lake, a substantial number of Cambodians also reside in floating villages. Chong Kneas, a collection of some of these floating villages, exhibits its own unique rhythm in response to the changing seasons. The villages have their own enclosed communities that encompass diverse cultural groups, including the majority ethnic Khmer, as well as the Vietnamese, Cham Muslim, and Chinese minorities. Chong Kneas serves as the main harbour for Siem Reap, the capital city of Siem Reap province. Even though its landing facilities are rudimentary, Chong Kneas acts...