Socio-religious Beliefs Research Articles

Dards of Ladakh: Socio-Religious Beliefs and Cultural Practices

This paper focuses on exploring the socio-religious beliefs and cultural practices of the minority Dard community residing in Ladakh, a newly designated Union Territory in India. Locally referred as Brog-pa, these people claim Aryan descent and have been recognized by the Indian government as one of the tribal groups in Ladakh. Scholars suggest that the Dards were among the earliest inhabitants of Ladakh, migrating from Gilgit and occupying a significant portion of the region once. However, due to the expansion of the State of Western Tibet, they were displaced and assimilated, leading to scattered settlements along the Indus River in the western part of Leh. Today, their villages lie scattered along the river Indus in the western part of Leh. Hanu, Hanu-burma, Hanu-gongma, Dha, Beema, Garkon, Dartsit are villages in order from Leh District. People of these villages had accepted Buddhism in the late 19th century. Along with Buddhism, they still practice the socio-religious pre-Buddhist traditions. They believe in nature worship and the deification of mountains is accompanied by holy animal the Ibex. Thus, this study covers the ritual practices, beliefs of the pre-Buddhist belief system and cultural practices of the people of Dard in Ladakh.

Barriers and facilitators of cardiac rehabilitation uptake and completion in south Asian minorities: a meta-synthesis

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Introduction Cardiac rehabilitation is a proven modality to prevent future cardiac events and complications in cardiac patients. However, the uptake and completion rate are suboptimal in cardiac patients and even worse in ethnic minorities and women. South Asian minorities experience several barriers and facilitators to cardiac rehabilitation uptake and completion. Aim To develop a comprehensive understanding of barriers and facilitators to cardiac rehabilitation uptake and completion by South Asian minorities. Methods A meta-synthesis was conducted, and findings were reported using PRISMA guidelines. The following databases: Medline, Embase, APA PsycInfo, Cochrane Database of Systematic Review, CINHAL, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched from inception to July 2022. The inclusion criteria comprised the studies that focused on South Asian adult minorities’ barriers and/or facilitators of a structured cardiac rehabilitation program. Studies were critically appraised using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Thematic synthesis was used in the analysis. Results A total of 7110 records were retrieved and eight studies from Canada and United Kingdom met the inclusion criteria. There were more identified barriers than facilitators. Communication constraints resulted in inadequate health education, while conservative socio-religious beliefs, negative attitudes about healthcare professionals, and systemic constraints (e.g., transportation problems, and work schedule concerns) were the key barriers themes. Peer and family support and patient-preferred specific mechanisms for cardiac rehabilitation implementation were substantial facilitators. Conclusion South Asian minorities experience multilevel barriers and facilitators to cardiac rehabilitation uptake and completion. Further research with a robust and culturally contextual intervention and methodology can help improve the uptake and cardiac rehabilitation completion in this population. Healthcare professionals and policymakers can utilize these findings to develop tailored cardiac rehabilitation programs for South Asian minorities.

Significance of Plants in Vedic Astrology, their SocioReligious Beliefs, Conservational and Therapeutic Aspects

According to Vedic Astrology, the status of the planets, their motion, and constellations associated with them have a great impact on the lives of individuals. There exists a co-relationship between celestial bodies and plants. Each of these grahas/rashis/nakshatras is associated with a specific plant that resonates with his/her birth chart. These sacred plants are used in curing any ill outcomes associated with astrology. Moreover, these plants are considered as sacred because of their medicinal, aesthetic, and natural traits. Since ancient times, our culture, food, folklore, and therapeutic practices are deeply connected and affected by the use of plants. That is why since our ancestry we revered plants like Gods and Goddesses and honored them as divine elements. These are powerful sources of many pharmacological activities like antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticancerous, etc. In Indian culture worshipping of plants, thus, form the basis for conserving many plant species. These days, there are numerous variables answerable for the depletion of biodiversity like deforestation, misuse, industrialization, unsustainable development, and so forth so, in this circumstance, the objective of this paper is to an all-encompassing perspective on the significance of plants in our day to day existence from the viewpoint of Vedic astrology, i.e., plants related with navgrah, rashi, and nakshatra alongside their cultural, socio-religious beliefs, mythological facts, and pharmacological properties. Planting and revering plants as indicated by one’s astrological chart is a significant strategy to ensure and conserve biodiversity, eventually benefiting individuals. The human relationship with flora might be useful in conserving plant species for their treasured characteristics.

Perception of Tuberculosis Treatment in Tribal area of Akole Block of Ahmednagar, Maharashtra

Introduction: The family’s knowledge and perception of any disease are essential conditions to formulate effective health policies to combat the disease. The tribal populations of India are likely to live discrete hard to reach geographic areas with their common cultural and socio-religious beliefs which are quite different from the general population. The present study was aimed to evaluate attitude with regards to the treatment of tuberculosis among the tribal community in Akole block of Ahmednagar District, Maharashtra. Methods: This was a qualitative cross-sectional study conducted in the tribal community. The study participants were subjected to a well-structured questionnaire which contained questions about the demographics and attitude of the patients concerning tuberculosis. Results: Twenty patients were included in the study, of which 12 (60%) were males while 8 (40%) were females. Majority of study participants opined that the treatment of tuberculosis should be free (19, 95%), agreed that they should disclose their illness to other people (17, 85%), were scared (12, 60%). Only 6 participants felt of being discriminated in the community. It was regarded by most of the participants that pregnant women won’t be affected by tuberculosis (15, 85%). Most of the study participants approached Private practitioner (11, 55%) and Public health care centre (8, 40%) initially, but preferred treatment from Governmental facility (18, 90%) upon the private facility (2, 10%). Conclusion: There has been a change in attitude and treatment-seeking behaviour of people of Tribal community with regards to tuberculosis. The community needs to be educated with regards to tuberculosis to alleviate fear and eliminate misconceptions. Control of TB in tribal areas continues to face some significant challenges.

DEMOCRATIZATION PROCESS AND THE UNFOLDING HISTORICAL DIALETICS OF WOMEN POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

The main thrust of this paper is centered around examining the historical challenges confronting women political participation in the democratization process of the Sub-Saharan African countries. In the past, indeed, women were never equal to men in the political sphere, because in the precolonial Africa, they were being allowed by men to ruled kingdoms, established cities, launched military conquests, and formed states. However, they unfortunately lost out in such arrangements and the social status with the coming and spread of Islam and Christianity and later colonization. Although women are key actors in the democratization process world over, they have now been politically, socially and economically marginalized especially in the Sub-Saharan African region. Marginalization has been a great challenge to the women of the region due to some socio-religious beliefs that came to the fore particularly with the emergence of Islam and Christianity. Likewise, in the contemporary African politics women are relegated to the background, hence sidelined, without tolerable and equal participation in the governance of their own social formations. The paper, therefore, adopts historical and descriptive approaches to argue that despite the increasing number of women in politics, the political landscape is still largely occupied by men. This is seen in the challenges facing the active political participation of women in the process such as cultural factors, lack of adequate representation and consultation in the political parties’ decision-making processes, gender discrimination, lack of fund and so on which the paper revealed. The paper concludes that the involvement of West African women in the democratization process would provide a new track in the developmental agendas of the entire region. And, a specific step to promote gender equality which would advance the status of women and young girls in the process of democratization in Sub-Saharan Africa is greatly needed.

Stylistic analysis of stone arrangements supports regional cultural interactions along the northern Great Barrier Reef, Queensland

Stone arrangements are frequently encountered on the Australian mainland and islands. They have high significance values to Indigenous Australians and are usually associated with the material expression and emplacement of socio-religious beliefs and associated ceremonial/ritual activities. Despite their ubiquity, stone arrangements are an understudied site type with their distribution and morphological variability remaining poorly documented and their functional variability poorly understood. Although in most parts of Australia the authorship of stone arrangements is unambiguously Aboriginal, for far north Queensland this is less clear for places where Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders, and more recently South Sea Islanders, all with documented traditions of stone arrangement construction and use, are known to have operated. A comparative stylistic analysis of stone arrangements constructed by Aboriginal people, Torres Strait Islanders and Island Melanesians of the southwest Pacific reveals that although Lizard Island Group stone arrangements are predominately of Aboriginal authorship, some arrangements exhibit cultural influences from neighbouring areas. In this respect, Lizard Island Group stone arrangements appear to be a further material expression of the Torres Strait Cultural Complex and Coral Sea Cultural Interaction Sphere.

Is Rh Factor is Behind the Moderate Life Expectancy of Uttarakhand Tribals? A Brief Review

Indigenous communities and tribes are diverse and distributed all over the Indian subcontinent. While tribal communities are unique, many share characteristics that can affect the ability to prepare for, respond to and cope with the impact of environment on their health, living in different ecological and geo-climatic conditions ranging from hills to plain. It is evident that, health of different tribal communities influenced by not only the environmental forces but also their varied ways of life including their socio-economic condition, nutrition, dietary habit, literacy, hygiene and sanitation, socio-religious beliefs etc. This review article purposively deals with such a health monitoring indicator- life expectancy from sample representatives of tribal groups from a specific geographical zone called Terai (interior forested mountainous region) of Uttarakhand. After analysing the data from secondary sources, it has been revealed that the life expectancy of rural Uttarakhand (71.0%) is comparatively higher than the national level (66.7%). Besides that, the findings regarding life expectancy of Uttarakhand (54.53% for Raji, Buxa, Tharu and Khasa) also corroborate with the other states of same ecological setting specifically Arunachal Pradesh (56.7%) and Jammu Kashmir (59.7%). In this regard, it has also been confirmed from different studies that the frequency of immunogenic Rh-positive antigen is significantly higher among different communities of Terai region of Uttarakhand. Therefore, it can be proposed that this higher prevalence of Rh positive may provide immunity against environmental hazards to maintain a moderate rate of life expectancy as the health of these tribal groups is the outcome of the interaction between socio-cultural practices, genetic characteristics and their environmental conditions.

The Character and the Spatial Concepts of Cakranegara The Hist orical City of Indonesia as an Alternative Urban Design

<p>The main challenge in Indonesian urban conservation efforts is to determine how changes can meet�our current needs without jeopardizing its unique character. Cakranegara, Lombok is one of the towns�that have unique character and concept for its spatial organization. This research seeks to define the�character of Cakranegara by outlining the spatial city concepts in relation to the physical character based�on the socio-cultural and religious principles using questionnaires, mental mapping, visual survey�and interviews. The results indicate that the grid pattern, settlement blocks and the positioning of the<br />east-west temples have become the specific character of the city. Findings suggest that cosmological�philosophy that emphasizes on the relationship between human and nature is used to determine�the spatial organization. This relationship is observed in the placement of the three temples which<br />symbolizes the spirit, the dwellers as the energy and the settlement territorial as the vessel. The study�concludes that the basic principles of socio-cultural and the socio-religious beliefs had created the�spatial concept of this historic town.</p>

Orthopaedic Trauma in the Anabaptist Community: Epidemiology and Hospital Charges

ABSTRACTThis study aims to define the epidemiology of orthopaedic trauma in the rural Anabaptist community and analyze the hospital charges associated with their treatment. The authors performed a retrospective review of 79 Amish and 40 Mennonite patients who had been seen in their rural level I trauma center emergency department for an orthopaedic injury from January 2006 to May 2013. Data collection included baseline demographics, injury mechanism and severity, injury complex, operative interventions, outcomes, and hospital charges. Amish and Mennonite groups were similar except for a higher percentage of males in the Mennonite group. For Amish patients, occupational injuries (52%) and buggy accidents (16%) accounted for the highest percentage of admissions. Eighty-seven percent sustained at least one fracture, most commonly of the hand (11%). Amish patients were statistically more likely to sustain fractures of the spine, and Mennonite patients were more likely to sustain fractures of the foot and femur. Over half of patients required surgery (58%). Total hospital charges did not differ based between the groups. Amish patients completed outpatient follow-up less frequently than Mennonite patients. Anabaptist patients are at risk for a variety of orthopaedic injuries related to their unique lifestyle and vocations. Socioreligious beliefs must be taken into consideration when educating these patients regarding postinjury care, as attendance at outpatient follow-up is low. Understanding the types of injuries that these patients sustain can help create strategies to prevent costly transportation and agricultural accidents within the Anabaptist community.

Religious beliefs and responsibility attributions for industrial accidents among Ghanaian workers

IntroductionAttribution theory basically deals with how people explain their social world and its many phenomena, and conceptualises their causality and responsibility assignment as either logical or biased. According to the literature on causal attribution and accidents, attributional distortions are quite common in novel and ambiguous situations (Wong & Weiner, 1981 ) such as occurrences in industrial accidents (Dejoy, 1994; Turner & Pidgeon, 1997). As industrial accidents tend to afford fertile grounds for causal and responsibility attributional distortions, the work environment seems to be the appropriate domain to examine evidence of these biases and distortions. An example of such attributional distortion occurs when people make use of self-protective mechanisms to project blame for their personal failures onto external circumstances. This has been labelled the Self-defensive Attribution Hypothesis (Shaver, 1970; Walster, 1966). The defensive attribution hypothesis has been confirmed in laboratory studies (see Chaikin 6k Darley, 1973) and received empirical support from workplace research (Gyekye, 2001; Gyekye & Salminen, 2004; Kouabenan et al., 2001).Religious Beliefs and Social BehaviourReligion plays an essential role in human meaning system by providing a frame of reference for interpreting a whole range of experiences. For example, a person's religious beliefs impact on his/her personal response to illness, tragedies, accidents and misfortunes. This relationship between religious beliefs and human behaviour has intrigued both the earlier (see Allport, 1953; Durkheim, 1951; james, 1902) and contemporary (see Chatters, 2000; Levin, 1997; Levin & Chatters, 1998) researchers in the psychology of religion. By using religious beliefs as a framework, researchers have examined and found different personality constructs for adults (Wade & Kirkpatrick, 2002), as well as important links between people's socio-religious beliefs and their attitudes and behaviour (Levin, 1997; Weaver & AgIe, 2002). In corroboration with these findings, researchers on the sociology of religion (Ajzen, 1996; Chatters, 2000; Levin, 1997; Levin & Chatters, 1998; Kenworthy, 2003) have all noted that belief in God plays a causal or explanatory role in human behaviour.Remarking on the applicability of attribution concepts to the psychology of religion, Spilka et al. (1985) have noted that attributional activity consists, in part, of an individual's attempt to understand events and interpret them in terms of some broad meaning-belief system. According to these experts, most people have at their disposal three separate explanatory systems: (i) a set of naturalistic or secular schemas, and (ii) a set of religious schemas (e.g., God, Satan, evil activities) or (iii) to some combination of these two factors, which may or may not be used in a mutually exclusive manner.The Current StudyDespite the relevance of religion and its influence on several aspects of social behaviour, studies on attribution processes, biases, and distortions have typically been limited to explanations of social behaviour outside the work environment (see Kenworthy, 2003; Weeks ?a Lupfer, 2000). In effect, socio-religious beliefs that relate to fatalism, determinism, and beliefs about accident causality, which all play a central role in attribution theory have therefore not been adequately investigated. To the degree that belief in God and the supernatural play a causal or explanatory role in behaviour, they necessitate an exploratory examination in accident causality and responsibility assignment. The current study was thus designed to fill in the paucity. Consequently, it examines how religious beliefs, as dimensions of socio-cultural values, are related to the assignment of causality and responsibility for industrial accidents among Ghanaian industrial workers. Specifically, (i) it compares causality attributions for accident occurrence between workers affiliated with Christianity, Islam and African Traditional Religions and (ii) their accident frequency. …

Preventive risk management strategies for bovine spongiform encephalopathy and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in India

India is unique in its management of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) due to its distinct system of socio-religious beliefs with respect to cows and beef consumption. Hindus, who comprise the great majority (over 80%) of India's population, revere the cow as a symbol of life, a practice that has evolved over the centuries according to Hindu tradition. In this context, the apparent popularity of beef consumption and a thriving cattle industry in India is somewhat paradoxical. Although there is low demand for beef in the domestic market compared to other countries, the government has instituted precautionary safeguards to maintain its BSE free status and large international beef export market. With a population of over one billion people, managing potential health risk issues in India, including prion diseases, is challenging. Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) risk management could be improved by incorporating blood deferral into the country's national blood policy. To date, neither BSE nor vCJD have been reported in India.

Observing Komo among Tagwa People in Burkina Faso: A Burkinabe Art Historian's Views

14 airican arts AUTUMN 2008 A s with many other ethnic groups in Africa, Sen ufo identity was the creation of the French colonial administration during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In spite of some similarities, those peoples whom the French grouped under the name do not share the same artistic and traditional forms and values. For example, while the Poro association and the related to it are the core of the socioreli gious organization of the central and southern Senufo, northern Senufo groups do not have Poro or its associated arts. Northern Senufo groups are invested in the Komo men's society' and its associated objects, like those of their Mande-speaking neighbors. This is not surprising if we take into account that all of the Sen ufo country, from Koutiala to Katiola, was colonized by Mande speaking people well before the arrival of the French. Mande influences are still discernible in this larger region's architec ture and language. Tagwa, a Senufo people in Burkina Faso, do not have the same traditions as central and southern Senufo groups. Although they were called Senufo by the French, Tagwa and all other Senufo subgroups still identify themselves by their specific languages, names, locations, and more importantly by their different socioreligious beliefs. Over the course of history, the arts of the Senufo have been exposed to various influences, which have all left their marks. Although Senufo groups differentiate themselves from others and are watchful of their own identity, they still are related to others. Yet despite external influences, a common societal foun dation for all these groups was created. For example, they share the same type of social and space organization, linguistic basis, architectural traditions, and music. However, it is not possible to determine a single cultural identity for the Senufo, and thus one cannot truly speak of a singular art of the Senufo. Prior to this study, researchers never recognized the exis tence of Komo among Tagwa, although a number of scholars did study the Komo of the Minianka peoples in this zone.2 In Burkina, Nanergue, who border the Tagwa to the north, also possess Komo. Komo is the representation of the sacred that allows Tagwa to define themselves as a Tagwa community and as a distinct ethnic group within the Senufo complex. The Komo society, which varies widely from village to village, is a testament to the independent nature of Tagwa communities. Each com munity determines the style of Komo so as to identify it with its

Regulatory approaches to reproductive genetic testing.

This report analyses the ethical and legal aspects of reproductive genetic testing in 11 countries (Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, The Netherlands, Switzerland and the UK). The legal status of reproductive genetic testing in the countries under analysis is difficult to generalize due to the different regulatory systems adopted. These approaches are a reflection of the legal traditions and cultural and socio-religious beliefs which inform and shape public policy on assisted reproductive technologies and genetic testing. We divide approaches into two groups: public ordering (legislative, top-down approach) and private ordering (non-legislative, bottom-up approach). Even limiting our analysis to a number of countries that span the range from restrictive to pragmatic approaches, there is remarkable symmetry in both the (i) substantive requirements (i.e. gravity, health indications generally) and (ii) procedural safeguards (i.e. informed consent, counselling, confidentiality, civil status, oversight and accreditation) surrounding reproductive genetic testing. Indeed, irrespective of whether a country adopts a prohibitive or a permissive approach through legislation or self-regulation or a mix of both, the ultimate decision is--and should continue to be--a medical one. Nowhere is this more evident than in the substantive requirements.

Exploring the archaeology of Hinduism

'Hinduism' is an English word that was first used in 1816 and 1817 by Raja Rammohan Roy, an Indian social reformer. Rammohan Roy, a Hindu by birth and an eloquent critic of the faith as it was then practiced, used it to describe the religion of his ancestors who believed in the unity of God as 'real Hinduism' (Lorenzen 1999: 631). The word itself comes from the ancient Persian term 'Hindu', a derivation from 'Sindhu' (the name of the Indus river), which was originally used to characterize an inhabitant of the lands to the east of the Indus. How and when 'Hindu' with its ethno-geographical connotation came to mean a community with identifiable socio-religious beliefs and practices is less certain, although Al-Biruni in the eleventh century AD offered a precise and detailed account of such beliefs and practices. As the papers in this volume show, material traces that constitute the archaeology of Hindu worship and belief are observable in South Asia in the second half of the first millennium BC and in Southeast Asia beginning in the early-midfirst millennium AD. Hinduism remains a living religion, with more than 76 per cent of people in India, 85 per cent in Nepal and a very small percentage in Southeast Asia (as it lost its dominance in the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries and thus, for example, only about 5 per cent in Singapore, 2 per cent in Indonesia, though with more than 90 per cent of the Balinese, and a very small group of Chams in south-central Vietnam) continuing to describe themselves as Hindu. What are the forms of worship and ritual that mark out Hinduism as a religion? In an essay that bears the same title as this volume, the archaeologist Dilip Chakrabarti cites Alfred Lyall's description (based on his observations while employed in India from 1856 to 1861) of Hindu ritual behavior in India:

Health Culture and Health Seeking Behaviour Among The Semi-nomadic Lohar-Gadiyas of Malthon Town of Sagar District, Madhya Pradesh

Health is mans natural condition therefore it is always a major concern of community development and problems of health are the problems of national importance. It is well known fact that health and disease are interrelated and their concept varies from culture to culture and people to people especially in tribal and other backward communities because their concept of health and health seeking behaviour is a part of their culture. Health status and health seeking behaviour of different tribal and backward groups is influenced by their entire way of life like culture including social and economic condition nutrition living conditions housing education food habits taboos and superstition socio-religious beliefs and practices use of indigenous Medicare systerm income communication and transportation ecology demography socio-biological practices genetics attributes and the health service etc. These entire interacting subsystems complex as a whole is termed health culture. Some notable contribution in studying health seeking behaviour are made by Polgar (1962) Saraswati Swain (1992) Chatterjee (1993) Pandey et al. (1996) Sharma and Sharma (2000) and Pandey et al. (2000). Here in this paper an attempt is made to study their health culture and assess health seeking behaviour. (excerpt)

Farm safety issues in Old Order Anabaptist communities: unique aspects and innovative intervention strategies.

The Amish and other Old Order Anabaptists have been inseparably linked with agriculture since coming to America. However few efforts have been identified which analyze the issues involved with Old Order Anabaptist farm injuries or present best practices for addressing these problems. As part of an effort to develop culturally appropriate and effective injury prevention strategies for use within the Old Order Anabaptist community, this article identifies important cultural issues that should be considered in understanding and attempting to reduce farm injures in this population, summarizes statistics concerning farm-related fatalities among Old Order Anabaptists, and discusses methods which have been effectively used to address farm injuries within these communities. In the statistical analysis, 92 cases were identified that were classified as being work-related or occurring in a farm work-related setting during the period 1980 to 2000. Approximately 64% of the identified cases were children 15 years and under; and approximately 77% were male. Run-over incidents were the most frequent primary cause of the fatal injuries, while animal-related behavior was the most frequent secondary cause, reflecting agricultural practices that remain highly dependent upon the use of horses and mules. The authors believe evidence suggests that certain Old Order Anabaptist choices concerning farm safety issues may be directly related to their socio-religious beliefs, and that effective intervention strategies must also be sensitive to socio-religious beliefs.

Magical Powers of Twins in the Socio-Religious Beliefs of the Yoruba

In this paper I propose to show that the powers associated with the twins among the Yoruba of Nigeria have evolved from this ambivalent attitude, reflecting the socioreligious beliefs of the people. The rate of birth of twins among the Yoruba is the highest in the world - about four times higher than that in Europe,1 and higher than in any other tribal group in Nigeria.2