Toward a kinship perspective on entrepreneurship

This paper develops a theoretical framework for analyzing the role of kinship in entrepreneurship. Kinship, we argue, is a key-ingredient of the social and cultural environment of entrepreneurs, and therefore essential in understanding how and why entrepreneurship happens. Building on qualitative research conducted among Cambodian Chinese entrepreneurs in Phnom Penh, we define kinship as interpersonal ties grounded in relatedness. We distinguish different categories of kinship ties that involve different levels of relatedness and are used for different aspects of entrepreneurship, and we identify different types of reciprocity and trust as the sociocultural dynamics that buttress kinship involvement in entrepreneurship

Assessment of a low-cost, point-of-use, ultraviolet water disinfection technology.

We describe a point-of-use (POU) ultraviolet (UV) disinfection technology, the UV Tube, which can be made with locally available resources around the world for under $50 US. Laboratory and field studies were conducted to characterize the UV Tube's performance when treating a flowrate of 5 L/min. Based on biological assays with MS2 coliphage, the UV Tube delivered an average fluence of 900+/-80 J/m(2) (95% CI) in water with an absorption coefficient of 0.01 cm(-1). The residence time distribution in the UV Tube was characterized as plug flow with dispersion (Peclet Number = 19.7) and a mean hydraulic residence time of 36 s. Undesirable compounds were leached or produced from UV Tubes constructed with unlined ABS, PVC, or a galvanized steel liner. Lining the PVC pipe with stainless steel, however, prevented production of regulated halogenated organics. A small field study in two rural communities in Baja California Sur demonstrated that the UV Tube reduced E. coli concentrations to less than 1/100 ml in 65 out of 70 samples. Based on these results, we conclude that the UV Tube is a promising technology for treating household drinking water at the point of use

Assessing the microbiological performance and potential cost of boiling drinking water in urban Zambia.

Boiling is the most common method of disinfecting water in the home and the benchmark against which other point-of-use water treatment is measured. In a six-week study in peri-urban Zambia, we assessed the microbiological effectiveness and potential cost of boiling among 49 households without a water connection who reported "always" or "almost always" boiling their water before drinking it. Source and household drinking water samples were compared weekly for thermotolerant coliforms (TTC), an indicator of fecal contamination. Demographics, costs, and other information were collected through surveys and structured observations. Drinking water samples taken at the household (geometric mean 7.2 TTC/100 mL, 95% CI, 5.4-9.7) were actually worse in microbiological quality than source water (geometric mean 4.0 TTC/100 mL, 95% CI, 3.1-5.1) (p < 0.001), although both are relatively low levels of contamination. Only 60% of drinking water samples were reported to have actually been boiled at the time of collection from the home, suggesting over-reporting and inconsistent compliance. However, these samples were of no higher microbiological quality. Evidence suggests that water quality deteriorated after boiling due to lack of residual protection and unsafe storage and handling. The potential cost of fuel or electricity for boiling was estimated at 5% and 7% of income, respectively. In this setting where microbiological water quality was relatively good at the source, safe-storage practices that minimize recontamination may be more effective in managing the risk of disease from drinking water at a fraction of the cost of boiling

Visualizing the Invisible: Social Constructions of Straight Identified Men Who Have Sex With Transsexuals and Feminized Gay Men On/Off Malaysian Film

Abstract This article examines an “invisible” group of Malaysian men who—although straight identified and gender socialized to eroticize and have sexual relations with natural-born females—also secretly have sex with transsexuals and/or feminized gay men, incidentally or occasionally. Specifically, the article looks at how these otherwise heteronormative men are socially constructed in 2 forms of social texts, namely, Malaysian films and interview-derived narratives of transsexuals and feminized gay men. These social texts are parsed through Simon and Gagnon’s (1986) theory of sexual scripting to yield 4 constructions of the men under focus: the accidental, the repentant, the volitional, and the cloacal. The contention of this article is that the invisibility of these men is causally linked to the prevailing cultural scenarios in Malaysia that are heavily shaped by political Islamism and weighted in favor of the heteronormative male gender/sex. The article argues also that the invisibility of these men does not render them static and that their sexual practices and the meanings they attach to them have been evolving radically since the mid-1990s, even as the cultural scenarios in Malaysia are becoming increasingly intolerant of nonheteronormative genders and sexualities. (Abstract by author

Masculinity, violence and socioeconomic status in Indonesia

In qualitative interviews conducted during 2009/2010, 86 male interviewees frequently "explained" violence between men in Indonesia as resulting from low socioeconomic status. This paper is not about how violence actually happens, but about how it is explained by Indonesian men. We unpack the discursive assertions of interviewees, and first explore the cultural utility and validity of the "hydraulic pressure" model of male violence found popular in the Indonesian mass media. While some men used this simple model of explosive violence caused by pressure, others acknowledged the active choice of men in marginal economic circumstances to use violence. We then consider this range of explanations for the link between socioeconomic disadvantage and male violence through the lens of Messerschmidt's "compensatory" thesis on violence and masculinity

Indonesian men's perceptions of violence against women

This article explores male perceptions and attitudes toward violence against women in Indonesia. It analyzes interview data from Indonesian men collected as part of a large multimethod Australian government–funded project on masculinities and violence in two Asian countries. Reluctance to talk about violence against women was evident, and the accounts of those men who did respond referred to three justificatory discourses: denial, blaming the victim, and exonerating the male perpetrator. The findings support continuation of government and nongovernmental organization (NGO) projects aimed at both empowering women and reeducating men