Open Access to Indigenous Research in Norway

More and more theses in Norway are published in digital archives and are freely available in full text. In MUNIN - the digital library of the University in Tromsø (Northern Norway), you can download eight master theses in indigenous studies. They look very interesting, so here they are:

Sargylana Zhirkova: School on the "move". A case study: Nomadic schooling of the indigenous Evenk children in the Republic of Sakha Yakutia (Russian Far East)
Abstract: It seems strange that in a modern time the indigenous people decided to return not only to their traditional culture but also to the type of schooling which was used by their parents. The first nomadic school in Russia was created in the 1930s and now this kind of school starts to work again in nomadic communities. I have decided to write about the nomadic school because education is an important aspect of life of the indigenous people: it opens doors for indigenous people. Today the nomadic school is a new educational institution for the indigenous nomadic children.

Abdul Hoque: Radio and indigenous peoples. The role of radio in the sustainable livelihoods of indigenous peoples: A case study of the Rakhaing and the Garo people in Bangladesh
Abstract: Radio has the strong role in the sustainable livelihood of indigenous people. Promoting the recognition and practice of mother language media, especially radio, has its distinctive role. (...) Rakhaing has no radio programme of their own. So their language and culture has no significant development, even diminishing day by day. Study findings showed that the Rakhaing feel them excluded from the world; and only a single programme in radio can give them a feeling of being a member of the world.

Gilbert Ansoglenang: Rural women and micro-credit schemes. Cases from the Lawra District of Ghana
Abstract: The study concluded that micro-credit schemes help reduce rural poverty and empower women. Despite the enhanced and visible roles assumed by these women due to the credit schemes, there were serious operational lapses. (...) In the light of this, inter alia, the study made the following recommendation towards the empowerment of women: an appreciable increase in the loans, prioritizing girl-child education, developing and encouraging the use of appropriate technology, and engendering the loan scheme or helping rural women side-by-side their men folk.

Priscilla Felicity De Wet: "Make our children proud of the heritage"
A case study of the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic communities in SA with specific reference to the emerging Khoe and San indigenous peoples in the Republic of South Africa

Victoria Phiri: When knowledge is not power. The integration of traditional midwifery into the health system. The case study of a traditional midwife among the Toka of Zambia
Abstract: In this thesis, I argue that what the traditional midwife practices is knowledge. Based on the local experiences and traditions, this knowledge may be different from what is commonly called “western” knowledge.

Sundar Bhattarai: The bola or parma of the Newar in Manamaiju Village. The significance of a farm labor exchange system among indigenous peasants in Nepal
Abstract: The key queries of this study are: what does the bola system look like in the village; and, how are they maintaining it as a successful living practice when there is a liberal economic policy in front of them?

Ciren Yangzong: The household responsibility contract system and the question of grassland protection. A case study from the Chang Tang, northwest Tibet Autonomous Region
Abstract: I attempt to demonstrate how common property systems have traditionally served and benefited the Shenchen nomads, and how they have traditionally co-existed with the wildlife using this system. (...) I analyze how HRCS is working in my particular area; especially in the Chang Tang conservation area and whether it is having an effect on nomad’s culture and environment.

Abebe Gizachew Abate: Contested land rights. Oromo peasants struggle for livelihood in Ethiopia
Abstract: Based on the contemporary ethnographic and historical data from Oromia regional state of Ethiopia the study examines complex relationships and contradictory processes of the effects of resource based-development policies of the Ethiopian regimes on land rights related to Oromo peasant livelihoods, environment and development. (...) Analytically, a new ethnographic paradigm of approaching the notions of land rights, power and resistance that problematize custom as static culture vs. dynamic understanding of culture opens up a more dynamic, practical , contextual and relational understanding of ` rights`.

>> overview over all theses

>> information on the Master Degree in Indigenous Studies

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