What do low-income people know about money? : indigenous financial concepts and practices and their implications for financial inclusion

In what ways do norms and expectations about the actual processes of saving and borrowing create a disjuncture between the formal sector and indigenous experiences? Bridging this divide between every day and formal financial concepts and practices is part of the key to being able to develop more appropriate products and services that will support financial inclusion. This insights brief brings together findings from two over-lapping research projects that address this question. Both studies examined indigenous practices of resource exchange through saving, lending and gifts. In the first, research examined the language used for the core financial concepts of savings and borrowing, and explored some of the social and cultural practices that these concepts involved. This was undertaken in Kitui and dealt specifically with Kikamba terminology. While this was a very focused study, it raised issues that resonated with the second study and which therefore have wider relevance. The second study delved in more depth into the nature of inter-personal transactions involved in financial and other resource transfers in a bid to understand their social dynamics and meaning for those involved. It was undertaken in three areas: Mathira, Kitui and Nyamira.ASC – Publicaties niet-programma gebonde

Cultural Ideologies of Peace and Conflict: a socio-cognitive study of Giryama discourse (Kenya)

Abbink, G.J. [Promotor]Ameka, F.K. [Copromotor

How universal is 'UN peace'? : a comparative linguistic analysis of United Nations and Giryama (Kenya) concepts of 'peace'

It is now commonly accepted that, for the sake of international peace, the provisions of the UN Charter (originally devised to regulate interstate wars) should be interpreted so as to allow for intrastate interference as well. Yet the UN Charter does not explicitly state what the term peace refers to. It seems that the concept underpinning this term is so much the norm that only deviations from it are marked and therefore noteworthy or definable. Still, in view of the wide array of UN peacekeeping missions all over the world, a clear notion of ‘peace’ could make an important contribution to the success of these missions. In view of this, the paper addresses two questions: what lies behind the concept of ‘peace’ embedded in UN discourse, and how internationally salient is it? To provide the necessary perspective, we undertake a comparative analysis of the UN and Giryama (Kenya) ‘peace’ concepts. The analysis aims to highlight those aspects of Giryama and UN ‘peace’ that are characteristically ‘socially meaningful’ and concludes by highlighting convergences and divergences between them.ASC – Publicaties niet-programma gebonde

How universal is UN 'peace'?: A comparative linguistic analysis of the United Nations and Giryama (Kenya) concepts of 'peace'

It is now commonly accepted that, for the sake of international peace, the provisions of the UN Charter (originally devised to regulate interstate wars) should be interpreted so as to allow for intrastate interference as well. Yet the UN Charter does not explicitly state what the term peace refers to. It seems that the concept underpinning this term is so much the norm that only deviations from it are marked and therefore noteworthy or definable. Still, in view of the wide array of UN peacekeeping missions all over the world, a clear notion of ‘peace’ could make an important contribution to the success of these missions. In view of this, the paper addresses two questions: what lies behind the concept of ‘peace’ embedded in UN discourse, and how internationally salient is it? To provide the necessary perspective, we undertake a comparative analysis of the UN and Giryama (Kenya) ‘peace’ concepts. The analysis aims to highlight those aspects of Giryama and UN ‘peace’ that are characteristically ‘socially meaningful’ and concludes by highlighting convergences and divergences between them

Molecular Cytogenetic Analysis of Prostatic Adenocarcinomas from Screening Studies : Early Cancers May Contain Aggressive Genetic Features

No objective parameters have been found so far that can predict the biological behavior of early stages of prostatic cancer, which are encountered frequently nowadays due to surveillance and screening programs. We have applied comparative genomic hybridization to routinely processed, paraffin-embedded radical prostatectomy specimens derived from patients who participated in the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer. We defined a panel consisting of 36 early cancer specimens: 13 small (total tumor volume (T(v)) < 0.5 ml) carcinomas and 23 intermediate (T(v) between 0.5–1.0 ml) tumors. These samples were compared with a set of 16 locally advanced, large (T(v) > 2.0 ml) tumor samples, not derived from the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer. Chromosome arms that frequently (ie, ≥15%) showed loss in the small tumors included 13q (31%), 6q (23%), and Y (15%), whereas frequent (ie, ≥15%) gain was seen of 20q (15%). In the intermediate cancers, loss was detected of 8p (35%), 16q (30%), 5q (26%), Y (22%), 6q, and 18q (both 17%). No consistent gains were found in this group. In the large tumors, loss was seen of 13q (69%), 8p (50%), 5q, 6q (both 31%), and Y (15%). Gains were observed of 8q (37%), 3q (25%), 7p, 7q, 9q, and Xq (all 19%). Comparison of these early, localized tumors with large adenocarcinomas showed a significant increase in the number of aberrant chromosomes per case (R(s) = 0.36, P = 0.009). The same was true for the number of lost or gained chromosomes per case (R(s) = 0.27, P = 0.05; R(s) = 0.48, respectively; P < 0.001). Interestingly, chromosomal alterations that were found in previous studies to be potential biomarkers for tumor aggressiveness, ie, gain of 7pq and/or 8q, were already distinguished in the small and intermediate cancers. In conclusion, our data show that chromosomal losses, more specifically of 6q and 13q, are early events in prostatic tumorigenesis, whereas chromosomal gains, especially of 8q, appear to be late events in prostatic tumor development. Finally, early localized tumors, as detected by screening programs, harbor cancers with aggressive genetic characteristics