Intute presents the 15 most recent Web resources for education and research added to our South Asian subject area 19 Mar 2010 03:30:00 GMT en-uk http://www.intute.ac.uk/sas/latest.html Logo for the Intute service http://www.intute.ac.uk/images/intute_100_new.png 100 42 http://www.intute.ac.uk/sas/latest.html http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20090226-11101736 http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20090226-11101736 This is the website for an AHRC-funded research project which is studying the interaction between state and citizen immediately before and in the two decades following India and Pakistan’s independence in 1947. To date, research has concentrated on the politics high levels of government, and little work has been done on the impact of independence and partition on everyday life. The project aims to focus on “citizen experiences” in the former British Indian provinces of Uttar Pradesh (formerly the United Provinces) and Sindh. Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:00:01 GMT http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=humbul13231 http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=humbul13231 This site, part of the globalsecurity.org website, details the long-running insurgencies in the 'seven sisters' - the collective name given to the seven little-known states in the north-east of India: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura and Mizoram. The website is essentially a single page giving the long history of the uprisings against the colonial and independent governments of India , and then gives links to a number of other pages giving details of the various organisations and movements that have been at the forefront of these insurgencies. Each organisation is thoroughly described and their founding principles explored. The site is simple and informative, but could give more nuance to its analysis. Sun, 31 May 2009 00:00:01 GMT http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20090330-21454169 http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20090330-21454169 'The medical history of British India' is a website giving access to a number of reports and maps held by the National Library of Scotland detailing the advancements in public health made during the period of British rule of India. The fifty reports available on the site show the efforts of the colonial state to meet the demands placed upon it by endemic and epidemic diseases. The documents are presented as jpeg images and are also available as pdf downloads. The quality of these images is impressive, as is the range of documents given on the site, which include commission reports, scientific accounts of research findings, regional surveys of disease and reports on specific outbreaks. The collection is fully searchable, and has a 'highlights' section as well for the more casual visitor. A well laid out and very useful research tool. Sun, 31 May 2009 00:00:01 GMT http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20090330-21515997 http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20090330-21515997 A very interesting website presenting the findings of a detailed investigation into the relationship between diasporic communities and artworks as a means of examining the nature of cultural identity amongst such communities and the ways in which cultural resonances are maintained when people are removed from their home culture. The study focuses on the Tibetan community in Switzerland, getting them to comment on Tibetan artworks by interpreting their meaning through the application of 'tags' to the artworks. Their interpretations were then compared with those of a similar section of the native Swiss population. The findings are presented in full on the site, which is more like an online research paper than a traditional website. Well worth visiting by anyone studying diaspora and diasporic populations. Sun, 31 May 2009 00:00:01 GMT http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20090430-23070595 http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20090430-23070595 This impressive website presents, in considerable detail, a history of the Karava people of Sri Lanka (otherwise known as Kshatriyas or Kurukulathar, among others). There are many pages on the site examining Karava culture, ceremonies, history, origins, migrations, symbols and ceremonies. Each page contains an essay on an aspect of Karava history, accompanied by a large number of images. The images claim to be available in a larger format, but clicking on them just produces an image of the same size in the middle of a larger window. This is the only major flaw in the website: it is well laid out and easy to use, and also informative and useful, with a large number of links to other sites. Sun, 31 May 2009 00:00:01 GMT http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20090430-23161149 http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20090430-23161149 The South Asian independence movement project is a scheme established by staff at Yale University to try and capture memorabilia, personal recollections, photographs and mementoes from people who experienced the movements towards independence in South Asia in the mid-twentieth century. The website presents some of the items which have been donated to the project: there are a number of images on the site, extracts of transcripts of interviews are given, as are lists of publications which are being sought by the organisers. This site is in its infancy - there are not a great number of submissions yet, but it could prove to be a very valuable resource if it develops as planned. Sun, 31 May 2009 00:00:01 GMT http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20090430-23220692 http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20090430-23220692 This website is a portal giving free full-text access to thirty-six titles from Nepal. The titles included cover all manner of subjects, many of them scientific, but also journals investigating social development, demography, history, environmental history, anthropology and sociology. Registration is required to access the articles and the archives of past issues, but it is a free and quick process. This is a useful and simple site - lists at the top of the home page identify the most recently added titles and issues, while, once you are registered, it is easy to find and download the pdf copies of the articles you want. Sun, 31 May 2009 00:00:01 GMT http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20090430-2328004 http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20090430-2328004 'Sri Lanka journals online' is a website which provides access to a number of journals from one single portal. There are eleven journals available on the site, all of which are published in Sri Lanka. There are a number of scientific and medical publications among these, but the site does also give access to journals on librarianship, ICT, a general arts journal, demography and social welfare. All the publications are offered in full text at no cost to the user. There is a requirement to register to access the full text of articles, but it is free, quick and easy. A very useful site which will hopefully grow in scope and scale. Sun, 31 May 2009 00:00:01 GMT http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20080307-09583242 http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20080307-09583242 The 'Sarai Readers' are a series of annual print and full-text ejournals, published in English from the Sarai Media Lab in Delhi, India. Broadly, the journal takes a cultural-political and cultural studies approach to... "consider limits, edges, borders and margins of all kinds". Issues are themed, and articles are freely available online in PDF format. Example titles of free online articles are: 'From Music to Painting: The Strange Yet Not-So-Strange Tales of Pardhaans'; 'Art without Frontiers? Satyajit Ray and the Constraints of Universality'; 'Long-Distance Nationalism: Constructing Indianness in American Kitchens'; '21st-Century Urban Landscape: The Emergence of New Socio-Spatial Formations in Gurgaon'; and 'From One Crisis to the Next : The Fate of Political Art in India', among a great many others. This is a rich and fascinating publication, and print volumes of each book-length issue are also available for purchase. Each issue has details of an Editorial Board, and the Sarai Media Lab website has contact details. Sun, 17 May 2009 00:00:01 GMT http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20090118-18240667 http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20090118-18240667 The Spanish Archives Portal (PARES) brings together in one single place a vast amount of digitised resources from all the main Spanish historical archives. It provides access to more than 11 million of full-text documents, manuscripts, maps and photographs from all periods of Spanish and European history, as well as catalogues of other materials not available for download. PARES is conformed by important archives such as: Simancas Archives; National Historical Archive (AHN); and the Documentation Centre of Historical Memory. Since the 'Archivo General de Indias' (Archives of the Indies) is part of the network, the site will also be useful for those interested in the cultural, social and economical exchanges between Spain and its colonies in America and Asia, especially during the Early modern period. Users may search for digitised collections and documents using various options, or alternatively browse the contents of each archive in the network. Access to digitised documents, maps, manuscripts and photographs is free and, although registration is not compulsory, registered users can save their searches, and send images and documents to their email addresses. There is also a 'Projects' section, offering links to various archival projects such as: 'Archivo Rojo' (Red File); Responses to the Ensenada Cadastre (1750-4); Spanish Civil War posters; and Spaniards deported to Nazi camps. The website is in Spanish only. Sun, 17 May 2009 00:00:01 GMT http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20090220-14571223 http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20090220-14571223 This is the homepage of a network project entitled 'Public Representation of a Religion Called Hinduism: Postcolonial Patterns in India, Britain and the US'. Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and based in the School of Arts, Histories and Cultures at the University of Manchester, the project seeks to explore the different ways in which Hinduism has developed a public presence in India and the diaspora. It runs for 2 years from June 2008 to June 2010, and is structured around discussions at a series of meetings held in India, the US and the UK. This website contains information about the project's aims and steering group. It holds a database of the names and contact details of researchers interested in the themes of the project, and provides details of the meetings held in the 3 countries. The project is led by Dr John Zavos of the University of Manchester. Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:00:01 GMT http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20081105-13071822 http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20081105-13071822 Tetun/Tetum is a website with information about a language spoken in parts of Timor-Leste (East Timor) and west Timor and used as a lingua franca throughout Timor. It is a project by students of the School of Language Studies, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand. The site contains an overview of the grammar of Tetun/Tetum; some sound samples of the language; a short story in the original language and translated to English; and the sentences of that story in detailed analysis. This site functions as a good introduction to studies of Tetun/Tetum but is by no means exhaustive. Fri, 24 Apr 2009 00:00:01 GMT http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20090225-11285586 http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20090225-11285586 This website explores the connections between objects in the home and those in museums, with a view to developing family learning, and using family stories to develop literacy, language and engage diverse cultures and communities. Every Object Tells a Story provides an insight into objects associated with the Khan family (originally from Pakistan) and draws on these to narrate the interests, histories and stories of a family. Of particular note is the teachers pack which can be downloaded. Aimed at Key Stage 2 (although it can be adapted for other age ranges) this provides a programme of structured activities both in the classroom and museum, offering teachers and museum educators a starting point to “develop their own ideas around how objects, stories and museums can be used to enhance family learning opportunities”. The project was developed in partnership with MLA Yorkshire and drew on the AHRC-funded Ferham Families project (also documented here) which “at the relationship between objects in the home and the narratives of migration of families of Pakistani heritage”. Fri, 24 Apr 2009 00:00:01 GMT http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20090226-10304078 http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20090226-10304078 This Web page describes the documentary film ‘Mumbai: Liquid City’. Forming part of an AHRC-funded research project into Mumbai’s urban infrastructure, the 25 minute film will explore the “material and metaphorical dimensions” to water in the Indian city, which although surrounded by seawater, faces problems distributing access to fresh water equally. With 60 per cent of Mumbai’s 18 million residents living in slums, access to potable water is both a challenge and yet a symbol of post-independence pride. The film, made by UK academics and Indian filmmakers ,will be supplemented by photography exhibitions and a discussions in Mumbai. Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:00:01 GMT http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20090226-12132055 http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20090226-12132055 This Web page outlines research using molecular population genetics to gain an insight into the prehistory of the greater Himalayan region, and the development and distribution of its incredible linguistic diversity. DNA samples were taken from populations within Nepal and Bhutan and compared with samples from India and China, allowing the genetic map of the region to be compared with the linguistic. The website includes links to published outcomes, and details of researchers involved in the project. The research was funded by the AHRC as part of the European Science Foundation EUROCORES programme: 'The Origin of Man, Language and Languages'. Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:00:01 GMT