Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper describes the theoretical perspectives on race, class and gender of Elizabeth Esterchild and Patricia Hill Collins. Both agree that race, class and gender intersect as bases for unequal treatment. Hill Collins concludes that Black women have special insights because in academia, as elsewhere they are often the outsiders within. She describes how self-valuation and self-definition in Black culture mitigate the debilitating affects of oppression. Esterchild provides a general model of stratification which encompasses several different types of inequality. We conclude that these two sets of ideas are highly compatible and that combining them leads to major advances in our understanding.

Publication Type: Abstract
Abstract: Nepal is plunged in the worst armed conflict. Social scholars argue that a failure of development created the pre-conditions – poverty, inequality, social discrimination and lack of social justice and democracy – for widespread discontent, and ultimately for the armed struggle. Moreover, the exclusionary process institutionalized by the caste system is one of the principal reasons behind inequality in Nepal, where low-caste people are routinely denied access to education, public resources and other mainstream socio-economic necessities. It is hypothesized that spatial-horizontal inequality characterized by caste-based discrimination, landlessness, unemployment, and illiteracy which is most intense in the rural areas of western regions, is the main factor that explains conflict. This paper assesses the socio-economic status of some of districts of western Nepal where Maoist insurgency was started. Secondary source of data will be utilized for the analysis and finding will be discussed.

Publication Type: Abstract
Abstract: The Flint Hills of east-central Kansas contain the largest remaining contiguous tract of unplowed tallgrass prairie in North America. This paper examines agrarian landscape transition in this region. We trace the effects on the landscape of the introduction, adaptation, intensification and abandonment of agriculture. We approach the human-environment relationship as an ecological dialogue that includes both biophysical and social elements. The approach allows for a more cyclical model of landscape change in which land-use change affects landscapes, of altered landscapes affecting ecological and social processes, and of both influencing the ways in which humans monitor and respond to their surroundings, engendering further cycles of change. Variant theoretical frameworks are discussed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Seminal work on the electoral connection was developed to explain the largely homogenous Congresses of the 1970s and 1980s. While more recent empirical work examines Congresses with greater gender diversity, much of it continues to ignore gender as an important analytic category. Given the changing demographics of the Congress, we know less and less about the relationship between members of Congress and their constituents. To correct this oversight, we develop and test a theoretical account of the electoral implications of gender and incumbent voting behavior. Based on voter stereotyping, we argue that men and women incumbents will face very different electoral consequences for being out of touch with their constituents. Using data from the 2000-2006 House elections, we find that women pay higher electoral costs than men when their voting behavior is more liberal than district preferences, but pay lower costs when their behavior is more conservative. We conclude that the electoral fortunes of women are closely tied to their responsiveness to constituents, providing an advantage when they closely mirror district preference but affording them less leeway in pursuing their own policy interests in Congress.

Publication Type: Abstract
Abstract: Invasive species are becoming a pervasive threat to world’s biodiversity. In recent years, several attempts have been made to characterize the underlying factor responsible for invasiveness of a species. Among the various qualities, genetic make-up appears to be an important factor responsible for invasiveness of a species. However, there are very few studies that have validated this. In this study an attempt was made to assess the population genetic diversity of an invasive species, Lantana camara Linn. (native to Jamaica) and compared with its co-occurring, non-invasive Lantana indica Roxb. (Verbinaceae). The study was carried out in Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple (B.R.T) Wildlife Sanctuary, Western Ghats, India. The random quadrat data suggested that invasive L. camara (24.6±10.73) possess significantly higher densities than non-invasive L. indica (10.3±5.77). However, the population genetic data obtained from ten RAPD primers indicated that both invasive and non-invasive species did not differ significantly, though there was variation. Further, the results were confirmed by repeating the experiment in another locality within the BRT sanctuary. Our results leads a conclusion that invasiveness of a species is independent of its genetic diversity, perhaps the life-history traits may be more important than merely the genetic composition.