Innovations in risk insurance models

Smallholder farmers face a range of risks related to production, transactions and human resources which often impact on their farming operations as well as their livelihoods. Farm output may vary from season to season because of the vagaries of the weather, especially in countries where agriculture is predominantly rain-fed. Crop production can also be affected by diseases, pests and other natural factors. They face human resource risks associated with death, disease and disability affecting the farmer and his/her family members. They may incur losses as a result of inability to enforce contracts and may themselves be vulnerable to legal risks arising from farm legislations or regulatory standards. Smallholder farmers are also exposed to uncertain access to markets and high price risks which may sometimes occur, or are accentuated by inefficiencies in markets or policy interventions. This policy brief provides an overview of different insurance tools that can be used by farmers to manage risks

Lexicografie in Nederland : Peilingen in de negentiende en twintigste eeuw

Janssen, Th.A.J.M. [Promotor]Noordegraaf, J. [Copromotor

The distinction between absolute and relative tenses with reference to Zulu (and other Bantu languages)

Most prominent linguists who have studied tense accept that a distinction has to be drawn between two tense systems, namely absolute and relative tense. In the case of the absolute tenses the temporal interpretation of events is done from coding time (the deictic centre). The deictic centre serves as origo for the temporal interpretation of the events. However, in the case of relative tenses the temporal interpretation of the events is not done directly from coding time, but from a specific reference point that is situated in a particular relation to the coding time (the deictic centre). In spite of the publication of a number of grammars on the Bantu languages in recent years, Bantu linguists still do not distinguish systematically between absolute and relative tenses. The two aspects of tense that will be investigated in this article are the description of the differences between the absolute and relative tenses and the labelling of the individual tense forms. The focus (as far as the language data is concerned) is on Zulu, a Bantu language in the South-eastern Zone of Bantu speaking Africa. Zulu is the language with the largest number of mother tongue speakers in South Africa (comprising 22,9% of the total population) and is one of the eleven official languages of South Africa together with (in descending order) Xhosa (17,9%), Afrikaans (14.4%), Northern Sotho (9,2%), English (8,6%), Tswana (8,2%), Southern Sotho (7,7%), Tsonga (4,4%), Swazi (2,5%), Venda (2,2%) and Ndebele (1,5%)Los lingüistas más eminentes que han estudiado el tiempo verbal aceptan que se ha de trazar una distinción entre los dos sistemas de tiempo verbal, es decir, el tiempo verbal absoluto y el relativo. En el caso de los tiempos verbales absolutos la interpretación temporal de los acontecimientos se realiza mediante una codificación temporal (el centro deícitico). El centro deíctico actúa como origo para la interpretación temporal de los acontecimientos. Sin embargo, en el caso de los tiempos verbales relativos la interpretación temporal de los acontecimientos no se realiza directamente mediante una codificación temporal, sino mediante un punto de referencia específico que se sitúa en una relación particular con el tiempo codificado (el centro deíctico). A pesar de la publicación de varias gramáticas de las lenguas bantúes en los últimos años, los lingüistas especializados en dichas lengua aún no distinguen de forma sistemática entre los tiempos verbales absolutos y relativos. Los dos aspectos del tiempo verbal que se estudiarán en este artículo serán la descripción de las diferencias entre los tiempos verbales absolutos y relativos y la denominación individualizada de las formas del tiempo verbal. El interés (por lo que se refiera a datos lingüísticos) se centrará en el zulú, una lengua bantú, una lengua sitiada en la zona sureste del África bantú-hablante. El zulú es la lengua de Sudáfrica con un mayor número de hablantes nativos (llegando a un total del 22,9% de la población) y es una de las once lenguas oficiales del país junto a (en orden decreciente de hablantes nativos) el xhosa (17,9%), al afrikaans (14,4%), el sotho del norte (9,2%), el inglés (8,6%), el tswana (8,2%), el sotho del sur (7,7%), el tsonga (4,4%), el swazi (2,5%), el venda (2,2%) y el ndebele (1,5%

État des lieux de la pensée écocritique française

Key words: écocritique française, littérature et écologie, représentation littéraire du paysage, Nathalie Blanc, éthique animale  Ecocriticism may be in its infancy in France, yet it has the potential to make a distinctive contribution. The few current French members of ASLE generally work in American Studies. However, their focus on narrative strategy and poetic structures suggests a difference in approach which parallels that between French political ecology and Anglo-American thinking on the environment. The editors of a recent ecocritical publication identified the central question for their compatriots as one of literary aesthetics. Current research in France includes work on literary landscapes, animals and the aesthetics of urban environments. There are, of course, also ecocritics writing in French outside France. Palabras clave: ecocrítica francesa, literatura y ecología, representación literaria del paisaje, Nathalie Blanc, ética animal Puede que la ecocrítica en Francia aún esté en su infancia, pero tiene el potencial para hacer una contribución distintiva.  Los pocos miembros franceses de ASLE en la actualidad trabajan generalmente Estudios Norteamericanos. Sin embargo, su foco en la estrategia narrativa y en las estructuras poéticas sugiere una diferencia en el enfoque paralela a la que hay entre la ecología política francesa  y el pensamiento medioambiental anglo-americano. Los editores de una reciente publicación ecocrítica identificaron para sus compatriotas la cuestión central como una de estética literaria. La investigación actual en Francia incluye el trabajo sobre paisajes literarios, sobre animales, y sobre la estética de entornos urbanos. Por supuesto, también hay fuera de Francia ecocríticos/as que escriben en francés

CSOs & Business: Joint Agents for Change

Slow burners. That is a good way to describe partnerships between businesses and Civil Society Organisations, or CSOs. They take time to start up and develop and while the results can be remarkable, success is not guaranteed. Why these relationships anyway? Linking capacities of businesses and civil society organisations could enhance sustainable and fair development a reality for all world citizens.For CSOs and business organisations there is a huge question hovering over the slow growing crop of their partnerships: why? Why get involved with an organisation that could as well be from a different world? It is a question for both parties but the perspective we take in this publication is that of the CSO and the challenges it faces in such partnership. This publication suggests that there are answers to that big question

Transmitting Sacred Knowledge: Aspects of Historical and Contemporary Oglala Lakota Belief and Ritual

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Indiana University, Anthropology, 2015The Lakotas are well known historically for their role in the so-called Sioux Wars of the nineteenth century and for the famous leaders counted among their ranks, including Red Cloud, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and Black Elk. The Lakotas are also known for their relatively well-documented religious traditions preserved in classic works by Black Elk, James R. Walker, Frances Densmore, Clark Wissler, and Luther Standing Bear, to name a few. In 1883 the United States government banned American Indian religious expression and ritual. Although traditional spiritual practices were observed in secret during the ban period, roughly spanning from 1883 to 1934, a great amount of religious knowledge was lost as elders passed on and members of the younger generations were raised as Christians. However, the Lakotas have long served as a model for other tribal groups in the retention of traditional values. The Oglalas of Pine Ridge are often considered the most traditional, a discursive term tied to conceptions of ethnic identity. Many beliefs and practices are perpetuated among the Oglalas that have become dormant on other Sioux reservations. During my fieldwork at Pine Ridge I participated in the ritual networks of four practitioners, representing a broad spectrum of contemporary practice. I examined religious belief, ritual behavior, social networks, and the lives and practices of modern practitioners, trying to fit them into the broader picture of reservation life and the dynamics of tradition. Transmitting Sacred Knowledge examines historical and contemporary Oglala belief and ritual and how they shape identity and ethnicity. Based on ethnohistorical and linguistic sources and over twenty months of fieldwork, my dissertation traces the development of Lakota religion from the pre-reservation period to the present, exploring key concepts and themes, Lakota disease theory, and positing a topology of nineteenth-century practitioners. Examining shifting and contested understandings of tradition, Transmitting Sacred Knowledge explores contemporary Lakota identity politics, practitioners, and the social organization of twenty-first century Lakota religion. Although the patterns of interaction have changed since the establishment of Pine Ridge Reservation in 1869 there remains a distinct and undeniable continuity with and fidelity to past traditions, beliefs, and practices