DILEMMAS OF CIVIL SOCIETY AID: DONORS, NGOs AND THE QUEST FOR PEACE IN SRI LANKA

Occasional Papers in Sociology and Anthropology - Peace and Democracy in South Asia, Volume 1, Number 1, January 200

Diaspora identification and long-distance nationalism among Tamil migrants of diverse state origins in the UK

Accounts of Tamil long-distance nationalism have focused on Sri Lankan Tamil migrants. But the UK is also home to Tamils of non-Sri Lankan state origins. While these migrants may be nominally incorporated into a 'Tamil diaspora', they are seldom present in scholarly accounts. Framed by Werbner's (2002) conception of diasporas as 'aesthetic' and 'moral' communities, this article explores whether engagement with a Tamil diaspora and long-distance nationalism is expressed by Tamil migrants of diverse state origins. While migrants identify with an aesthetic community, 'membership' of the moral community is contested between those who hold direct experience of suffering as central to belonging, and those who imagine the boundaries of belonging more fluidly - based upon primordial understandings of essential ethnicity and a narrative of Tamil 'victimhood' that incorporates experiences of being Tamil in Sri Lanka, India and in other sites, despite obvious differences in these experiences. © 2013 Taylor & Francis

Coffee has given us power to act': Coffee cooperatives and women's empowerment in Rwanda's rural areas: A case study of Karaba coffee cooperative

peer reviewedCooperatives bring socio-economic benefits to their members through combining forces with others. Worldwide, it is estimated that there are around 800,000 cooperatives which provide affordable products and services and access to resources (UNDESA, 2014). Cooperatives create opportunities and promote income generating activities for many communities by providing goods and services through their daily activities. They provide medical care, access to markets, and job creation. Apart from enabling their members to access economies of scale, cooperatives help to enhance the status of their members to voice their needs and challenges in the community. Access to resources helps cooperative members to improve the quality of life by enhancing social and economic empowerment of women. It is in this context that Karaba coffee farmers joined their organization in order to address their social and economic problems. Cooperatives have empowered their members by creating jobs and other advantages. The potential contribution of women empowerment in development and poverty reduction is supported by global institutions such as the World Bank and other development practitioners. Cooperatives are used as engines of development in homesteads and agricultural activities (Gibson, 2005; UNDESA, 2012). Rwanda’s paid labour force employed as casual workers in agriculture sector and other informal sector constitute 97.3 per cent of active persons with very low salaries (Ansoms, 2008; Birchall, 2003). In addition to housework, most of the women in Rwanda’s coffee producing zones are involved in coffee production. The major concern of this study is to assess the role of cooperatives in empowering rural women in Karaba. The study aims at answering the following questions: (i) To what extent has Karaba coffee cooperative contributed to social and economic empowerment of women? (ii) What is the impact of women empowerment on Rwanda’s rural households

Astrophysics with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna

submitted to Living Reviews In RelativityLaser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will be a transformative experiment for gravitational wave astronomy as it will offer unique opportunities to address many key astrophysical questions in a completely novel way. The synergy with ground-based and other space-based instruments in the electromagnetic domain, by enabling multi-messenger observations, will add further to the discovery potential of LISA. The next decade is crucial to prepare the astrophysical community for LISA's first observations. This review outlines the extensive landscape of astrophysical theory, numerical simulations, and astronomical observations that are instrumental for modeling and interpreting the upcoming LISA datastream. To this aim, the current knowledge in three main source classes for LISA is reviewed: ultra-compact stellar-mass binaries, massive black hole binaries, and extreme or intermediate mass ratio inspirals. The relevant astrophysical processes and the established modeling techniques are summarized. Likewise, open issues and gaps in our understanding of these sources are highlighted, along with an indication of how LISA could help make progress in the different areas. New research avenues that LISA itself, or its joint exploitation with studies in the electromagnetic domain, will enable, are also illustrated. Improvements in modeling and analysis approaches, such as the combination of numerical simulations and modern data science techniques, are discussed. This review is intended to be a starting point for using LISA as a new discovery tool for understanding our Universe