A RACIALIZED SETTLER WOMAN'S TRANSFORMATIVE JOURNEY IN CANADA: BUILDING RELATIONAL ACCOUNTABILITIES

This dissertation tells the story of my racialized settler woman’s transformative journey toward reconciliation and mutual empowerment through community in Canada. The dissertation discusses how Indigenous Land-based learning became healing and empowering for me as a newly arrived settler woman of a colour, learning about my positioning on the stolen Indigenous Lands of treaty six territory. It recounts the journey of migrating from one colonial Land to another, building a family and new community networks, and learning about Indigenous histories, cultures, Land-based learning, and about diverse newcomer settler communities in Saskatoon, Canada. The dissertation discusses how collaborative learning has supported taking responsibility for understanding the meaning of Land in solidarity with Indigenous and newcomer communities, through involvement in a community garden project, community radio show, and various cultural community activities. Using decolonial feminist relational autoethnography as my research methodology, this dissertation discusses my quest to challenge everyday racisms and colonial practices ingrained in the daily lives of newcomer Canadians. Following 12 years of community activities in Treaty 6 and 7 territories, this research emphasizes a key lesson from this life journey: the need to be responsible for understanding the Indigenous meaning of Land in order to create belongingness with the Land and its original peoples, while resisting the assimilationist forces impacting Indigenous and newcomer communities through their unique histories, despite the orchestrated biases operating through colonialist structures. The author concludes with the hope that the analysis of decolonial, collaborative learning stories and connections with the Land may help other non-Indigenous communities build meaningful relationships with the Land and Indigenous communities

Resiliency in Disaster: The Relevance of Indigenous Land-based Practice

The COVID-19 pandemic, as a Natural Disaster, has significantly affected the vulnerable portion of society, particularly Indigenous and visible minority immigrants in Canada. As a color settler immigrant family in Indigenous land in Treaty 6 territory, we explore Indigenous Land-based Education (ILBE) from Indigenous Elders and Knowledge-keeper’s land-based stories, traditional knowledge, resiliency, and practice. As a family, we have been learning and practicing ILBE to develop resiliency during natural disasters like the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper used land-based decolonizing autoethnography to understand health and wellness from an ILBE perspective. We discussed why ILBE matters for building resiliency, resistance, and self-determination within a family and community; how can it help others? We have seen how COVID-19 has severely impacted our mental and physical health. During the high climate change era, many pandemics are yet to come, and the ILBE can build resiliency for both humans and non-humans

Analysis on the Incidence, Staging and Treatment of Carcinoma Cervix at Delta Medical College and Hospital of Bangladesh

Background: Cervical cancer remains the most common cancer among women in this part of the world. Bangladesh has the highest level of incidence and mortality rates due to cervical cancer among women. Cervical cancer is a preventable disease by screening and treatment of pre-invasive condition. Unfortunately, there is no effective screening program in Bangladesh.Objective: The objective was to analyze the clinico-pathologic characteristics and, subsequently the therapy delivered to the patients.Materials and method: This cross sectional study was done from January to December 2011 in oncology division of Delta Medical College and Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh. During this period a total of 2264 female carcinoma patients were registered. Out of them 523 patients were with the diagnosis of carcinoma of cervix. Evaluation and characterization of patients with carcinoma cervix were done according to the age group, clinical stages and surgical status. External beam radiotherapy (EBRT) and doses, brachytherapy doses and fractions, time interval between EBRT and brachytherapy, neo-adjuvant and concurrent chemotherapy status were the factors taken into consideration for the analysis of treatment of these patients.Results: The study revealed that the incidence of carcinoma cervix was 23% and highest incidence was between 40-50 years of age group, most of the patients were in Stage IIB (34%) and IIIB (28%) and 31% with unknown stage. About 44% patients were referred postoperatively and most of them with unknown stage. Almost 90% patients received EBRT, 24% patients received concurrent chemo-radiation, 46% of them completed 5 cycles of concurrent chemotherapy and 8.6% patients received neo-adjuvant chemotherapy. About 69% patients received brachytherapy with HDR Co-60 sources and 23% of patients received their brachytherapy treatment after 12 weeks of completion of EBRT.Conclusion: Lack of proper clinical evaluation and documentation, delay in referral and lack of implementation of a standard protocol for the treatment of carcinoma cervix are the major obstacles in our country

Understanding Sustainability Education: A Community-Based Experience

Sustainability education policies are widely focused on modern technologies, green profits, and development projects in many Indigenous communities. However, there has been minimal attention given to critical areas such as: Indigenous world views, spiritual and relational practices, culture, lands, and revitalization. This imbalance, combined with the destruction and lack of recognition to Indigenous knowledge (systems), suggests that Indigenous environmental education policies are still in a state of adolescence as a field of academic inquiry. The present study examines how an Indigenous community understands sustainability and analyzes these understandings in relation to the literature on the politics of nature as well as Indigenous and postcolonial studies. This research followed a relational Participatory Action Research (PAR) research approach with a focus on the researchers’ relational accountabilities and obligations to study participants and site

Labour Migration, Inter-ethnic Relations and Empowerment : A Study of Khyang Indigenous Garments Workers, Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh

There has been a growing trend among the Khyang indigenous people of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), Bangladesh to migrate from their traditional occupation (Jhum cultivation) and take up new occupations (mostly garments factory work) in the big cities. These changes have led to critical shifts in the social and gender relations, institutions of the indigenous people and in the Khyang indigenous women's empowerment. Using my research in the Chittagong Export Processing Zone (CEPZ) and Chittagong Hill Tracts which are situated in the south-eastern part of Bangladesh, I juxtapose Khyang indigenous garment workers' experience in the new city environment to understand their challenges in their living arrangements, work place and social life in the city compared to their life in the villages. These indigenous people move from a semi-egalitarian society to a capitalist patriarchal society. In the thesis, it is argued that Khyang indigenous women have challenged and renegotiated complex interethnic interactions within their work place, housing compounds and new forms of living arrangement through their involvement in paid labour. The thesis also articulate that my Khyang informant’s access to wage labour may improve their existing position in their home communities and increase their chances for better and delayed marriages. It may also enable them to raise their voice in family decision making and encourage their questioning of unequal practices and ethnic discrimination. In addition, it can increase their sense of self reliance and bargaining power. Despite the wage earning and the subsequent empowerment of Khyang women, there are, however, several negative aspects of their migration into city and the life worlds of garments factories. Firstly, their participation in garment’s work is not always well regarded by people in their home communities. Moreover, the working conditions in the garment’s factories are not safe and healthy and they experience stereotyping and ethnic discrimination from the majority society due to their different language, accents, religion, food and dress . The latter may be minimized if cross cultural communication in city life, working places and housing is improved. Moreover, if wage, working and living conditions can improve for factory workers then it would be possible to increase the social acceptance for Khyang indigenous women which could possibly challenge the majority Bengali mainstream culture

Antidiarrheal activity of ethanolic bark extract of Mitragyna diversifolia

The ethanolic bark extract of Mitragyna diversifolia showed significant (p<0.05) antidiarrheal activity on gastrointestinal motility with barium sulfate milk model and castor oil- induced diarrheal model in rats. These results revealed that the bark extract possess pharmacological activity against diarrhea and may possibly explain the use of the plant in traditional medicine