Meeting at Middle Ground: American Quaker Women’s Two Palestinian Encounters

In the late nineteenth century the Palestinian town of Ramallah began receiving American missionary women who embodied their middle-class ideology of womanhood and ventured to discourse on Arab women and culture. Their conviction of the American woman as the model for other “unfortunate” women prevented these missionaries from integrating in the Palestinian cultural context. Consequently, this americentric belief led them to construct overwhelmingly negative views of Palestinian women as oppressed, living in ignorance and degraded conditions, and of Arab culture as backward and inept. However, American women missionaries after World War I grew in their cultural and linguistic understanding of Arab culture. this change in perspective came as a result of numerous social and cultural developments in Palestine and the United States that prepared these women to establish an accommodative middle ground between them and the Palestinians, thus modifying their previous perceptions.1 among these developments were the increased secularization of the Quakers’ curriculum, more cultural and linguistic training of American teachers, the significance of Palestine as the “Holy land” in missionary imagination, and most importantly the emergence of the strategy of cooperation and devolution among the different Protestant missions in Syria and Palestine after World War I

Early marriage, adolescent motherhood, and reproductive rights for young Sasak mothers in Lombok

This article focuses on Indonesian adolescents who are wives and mothers, demonstrating how early marriage and adolescent motherhood are normative among women from poor Sasak communities in Western Lombok. It is based on ethnographic research with 28 young mothers that included focus group discussions, in depth interviews, and observations. Demographic and ethnographic data on the aetiology of early marriage and adolescent motherhood are discussed, and confirm that low educational attainment for girls, lack of employment prospects, poverty, and low levels of economic development are all associated with a higher probability of adolescent marriage and motherhood in Indonesia. The article also reveals how conservative sexual morality and local marriage customs can propel girls into early marriage. It provides a human rights analysis that demonstrates how early marriage and adolescent motherhood intersect with the neglect of girls’ rights to education, employment, equality in marriage, health information, family planning, and maternal health.KeywordsIndonesia, early marriage, adolescent mothers, reproductive rights, maternal and child health

Genetic diversity of beta-thalassemia mutations in Pakistani population

Background: beta-thalassemia is one of the most common inherited single gene disorder in Pakistan. It is characterized by reduced or absent beta-globin gene expression resulting in abnormal maturation and survival of red blood cells. Due to high prevalence of this disease in the local population, it has become important for the health care providers to encourage people to utilize laboratory facilities for carrier and prenatal genetic testing. Objective: To study the frequency of beta-thalassemia mutations in Pakistani population. Setting: A tertiary care teaching hospital. Methods: Blood samples of 72 couples and chorionic villus (CV) biopsy specimen collected at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi were tested by Amplified Refractory Mutation Systems (ARMS) for the 12 most common mutations in the beta-globin gene. Results: Out of 72 chorionic villus biopsy specimen analyzed, 17 (23%) had mutations in both alleles of the beta-globin gene. Homozygosity was identified in 6 CV samples, whereas 11 CV specimens were diagnosed as double heterozygous. Almost 60% of the CV biopsies showed mutations in one allele and were diagnosed as carriers. IVSI-5 (G-C) was the most common mutation identified in this study. It was found in 53% of the subjects and was represented equally in all the ethnic groups except Pathans. Several regional and ethnic differences were observed in the distribution of common mutations, for example in Pathan families Fr 8-9 (+G) mutation was most prevalent. In addition, variation in the distribution of mutations was also observed between the Northern and the Southern regions. Conculsion: This study indicates that in Pakistan, the five most common mutations are IVS1-5 (G-C), IVS1-1 (G-T), Fr 41-42 (-TTCT) Fr 8-9 (+G) and deletion 619 bp. An important factor contributing to high incidence of thalassemia is the unawareness among people about the available diagnostic facilities for the prenatal diagnosis in Pakistan. Strict implementation of collective measures including carrier identification, genetic counseling and prenatal diagnosis are required for preventing beta-thalassemia in Pakistan

Leprosy and childhood

A CAJM article on leprosy and childhood in 1950's Africa.Disabilities in young people stir the emotions easily. There is an immediate response to children who cannot see or who have been crippled by accident or disease. Expressions such as “stricken,” “handicapped for life” and “unable to join in the games of other children” are a measure of the sympathy that is awakened —a feeling, however, that does not necessarily follow them as easily as they get older, when the consequences of their limitations may be greater. It is, therefore, not difficult to regard disease in children as essentially different from that in adults. Certain conditions one expects to see predominantly in children just as others appear only in the more elderly. When considering those diseases that are common to all ages we ought to be certain that our emotional regard for the child is not causing us to put into separate houses what really belong to the same room

Traditional Marriage and the Role of Witnesses in the Parish of Ravno in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century

This article addresses the issue of marriage witnesses in the Catholic parish of Ravno in the Ottoman-controlled hinterland of Dubrovnik of the nineteenth century. In this rural community, witnesses at marriage were awarded an important role in establishing and sealing social networks. Based on the data of 233 marriages, i.e., 466 male witnesses, the article elucidates the reasons that guided the choice of marriage witnesses, along with their relationships with the bride and groom in terms of natural and spiritual kinship. Apart from the role traditionally assigned to the marriage witness by the Church, the article casts light on a less familiar customary role of kum at marriage