Marriage by Force? Contestation over Consent and Coercion in Africa

With forced marriage, as with so many human rights issues, the sensationalized hides the mundane, and oversimplified popular discourses miss the range of experiences. In sub-Saharan Africa, the relationship between coercion and consent in marriage is a complex one that has changed over time and place, rendering impossible any single interpretation or explanation. The legal experts, anthropologists, historians, and development workers contributing to Marriage by Force? focus on the role that marriage plays in the mobilization of labor, the accumulation of wealth, and domination versus dependency. They also address the crucial slippage between marriages and other forms of gendered violence, bondage, slavery, and servile status. Only by examining variations in practices from a multitude of perspectives can we properly contextualize the problem and its consequences. And while early and forced marriages have been on the human rights agenda for decades, there is today an unprecedented level of international attention to the issue, thus making the coherent, multifaceted approach of Marriage by Force? even more necessary.https://ohioopen.library.ohio.edu/oupress/1003/thumbnail.jp

An Approach to Mapping Forest Growth Stages in Queensland, Australia through Integration of ALOS PALSAR and Landsat Sensor Data

Whilst extensive clearance of forests in the eastern Australian Brigalow Belt Bioregion (BBB) has occurred since European settlement, appropriate management of those that are regenerating can facilitate restoration of biomass (carbon) and biodiversity to levels typical of relatively undisturbed or remnant formations. However, maps of forests are different stages of regeneration are needed to facilitate restoration planning, including prevention of further re-clearing. Focusing on the Tara Downs subregion of the BBB and on forests with brigalow (Acacia harpophylla) as a component, this research establishes a method for differentiating and mapping early, intermediate and remnant growth stages from Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) Phased-Array L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) Fine Beam Dual (FBD) L-band HH- and HV-polarisation backscatter and Landsat-derived Foliage Projective Cover (FPC). Using inventory data collected from 74 plots, located in the Tara Downs subregion, forests were assigned to one of three regrowth stages based on their height and cover relative to that of undisturbed stands. The image data were then segmented into objects with each assigned to a growth stage by comparing the distributions of L-band HV and HH polarisation backscatter and FPC to that of reference distributions using a z-test. Comparison with independent assessments of growth stage, based on time-series analysis of aerial photography and SPOT images, established an overall accuracy of > 70%, with this increasing to 90% when intermediate regrowth was excluded and only early-stage regrowth and remnant classes were considered. The proposed method can be adapted to respond to amendments to user-definitions of growth stage and, as regional mosaics of ALOS PALSAR and Landsat FPC are available for Queensland, has application across the state

Mapping forest growth and degradation stage in the Brigalow Belt Bioregion of Australia through integration of ALOS PALSAR and Landsat-derived foliage projective cover data

Differentiation of forest growth stages through classification of single date or time-series of Landsat sensor data is limited because of insensitivity to their three-dimensional structure. This study therefore evaluated the benefits of integrating the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) Phased Array L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) L-band HH and HV polarisation response from the woody components of vegetation with Landsat-derived foliage projective cover (FPC). Focus was on 12 regional ecosystems (REs) distributed across the Brigalow Belt Bioregion (BRB) of Queensland, Australia, where different stages of growth dominated by brigalow (Acacia harpophylla) were widespread. From remnant areas of brigalow-dominated forests mapped previously for each RE by the Queensland Herbarium through field visits and interpretations of aerial imagery, frequency distributions of all three channels were extracted and compared to those of image segments generated using FPC and PALSAR data. For woody vegetation (with an FPC threshold of ≥ 9%) outside of the remnant areas, mature (non-remnant) forests were associated with segments where the HH and HV backscatter thresholds were within one standard deviation of the mean extracted for remnant forest. Early-stage regrowth was differentiated using an L-band HH threshold o

Particularity of rights, diversity of contexts, women, international human rights and the case of early marriage

grantor: University of TorontoThis thesis presents an alternative way of approaching and analyzing practices that are criticized on the basis of human rights and defended on the basis of culture. I illustrate the thesis through the case of early marriage. Rather than reinforcing the dichotomous debate between universalistic conceptions of human rights and culturally relative challenges to universalistic interpretations of rights, this thesis inhabits the space between the dichotomous poles. I argue that human rights can be appropriated, particularized and used in diverse contexts, but not without attention to the local and global socio-political contexts in which the rights debate takes place. I argue throughout the thesis that, to address practices that are criticized according to international women's rights and defended as integral to culture, the presuppositions of judgement must be exposed and criticized. This methodology includes an understanding of the context in which the practice takes place as well as the context from which criticism emanates. I argue that this is particularly true when the external critics are evaluating practices that take place in a Muslim context, given the problematic manner Muslim women's bodies have taken center stage in the international debates. This thesis critically interrogates the preoccupation with Muslim women in international human rights and the treatment of Muslim women's claims in the case of early marriage. This thesis proceeds along three levels: the international, national and local levels. On examining the international level through the work of the women's committee, CEDAW, I show the predominance of the universalism/relativism dichotomy, with CEDAW invested in rhetorical claims to the universality of human rights. This thesis demonstrates that the practice in the area of marriage age tolerates particularity and variance. Further, I argue that a strength of international law on this point is its flexibility or ambiguity, which can allow for constructive particularity, without sanctioning all instances of cultural particularity. The local level of analysis stems from fieldwork in northern Nigeria and grassroots activism to address early marriage. Finally, I evaluate the national domestication of international norms through the example of Canadian refugee cases concerning marriage and culture.S.J.D