equality
Paliyan Heroism
According to an article in The Hindu last week, some Paliyans acted heroically to help rescue trekkers in the mountains of Tamil Nadu who had been overcome by a forest fire. When police and medical personnel wanted to launch a rescue operation for the trekkers in Kolukkumalai, located in the Theni district near Kurangani, […]
Belittling Success Fosters Equality
The Ju/’hoansi cherish their egalitarian traditions so strongly that they have a hard time assuming any leadership roles, yet they have one of the most successful civilizations in history. At least that is one of the central arguments made by James Suzman, an anthropologist who has been studying them for over 20 years. On October […]
A History of Inequality
In his book Tahitians: Mind and Experience in the Society Islands, Robert Levy (1973) explained that relationships in French Polynesia were more egalitarian in some communities than in others. In the small, rural village on Huahine where he did much of his fieldwork, the Tahitians were mostly free of vertical power structures. However, in an […]
Nietzsche versus the Batek
A blog post published last week by Psychology Today compared the beliefs of the nineteenth century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche with the way of life of the Batek. The author, Matthew J. Rossano, a professor of psychology at Southeastern Louisiana University, made it clear that many people would profit from gaining a greater understanding of […]
A Bicentenary on Tristan
Last week the Tristan Islanders marked the bicentenary of British rule over the island by having a variety of festivities and by reading a letter from H.R.H. Prince Philip. The history is important to the Islanders. During the Napoleonic Wars (called the War of 1812 in the U.S.), American privateers had used Tristan as a […]
Chewong Choices: Modern or Traditional Values [anthology chapter review]
Chewong elders are often dismayed when animals that are killed in the forest are not shared in the village, a result of the economic and social changes occurring in their society. Signe Howell describes those changes, and the ways the Chewong are coping, in a recently published article. Starting in 1977, Howell spent 18 months […]
Film Festival in Ladakh Promotes Women’s Equality
The organizers of the Ladakh International Film Festival (LIFF) are promoting a movement in India to build awareness of the need to protect women and girls from rape, infanticide, and feticide. The festival, which began last summer, is now receiving films for its second year. Some 600 people attended last summer. Organizers are hoping the […]
Equality for Fipa Women
On Wednesday last week, the First Lady of Tanzania, Salma Kikwete, extolled the importance of education to over 1,000 girls at a school in Sumbawanga. The wife of President Jakaya Kikwete said that many young females have been dropping out of school due to pregnancies. She urged girls in the major city of the nation’s […]
Peaceful Societies in India Champion Women’s Rights
Michelle Bachelet argues that a much stronger economic and political role for women in India will not only be the right thing to do, it will send an important message to the world. She summarized her thoughts on the subject during a speech in New Delhi at the beginning of October. The former president of […]
Super Confident Ladakhi Women
An Indian news story last Thursday included a paean of praise for the equality that exists between Ladakhi women and men, a situation that is unique in a country where female abortion and infanticide are still widely practiced. The reporter was clearly impressed upon arriving in Leh, the largest community in Ladakh. “When you first […]
