Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Traditionally, tribes represent a way of life in which pockets of collectives identify themselves as unique entities in order to cope with life in general. Further, and more importantly, by sharing their similarities, members in the collectives function by influencing one another and are being influenced in the process of accomplishing social, economical, organizational and other specific goals. This essay examines the role of computer-mediated communication technologies especially the Internet in creating electronic tribes (i.e., e-tribes). The paper distinguishes between e-tribes and more general online communities, offers theoretical perspectives that inform the communication practices of e-tribe members, and addresses implications from communication, organization, and socio-cultural perspectives. Finally, some recommendations are offered for organizational innovations.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Despite the extensive medical studies illuminating the health disparities among minority populations, little research has been conducted to determine the availability of communication channels used to decrease the disparities. This study examines the availability of communication channels to different sects of an underrepresented population. Specifically, this study exposes the inconsistency of communication channels among Native American Tribes in Oklahoma and assesses the use of the channels for disseminating diabetes awareness, prevention, and treatment messages. Findings of this study imply that health communication campaigns targeting at risk ethnic groups should first identify and assess the ethnic communication channels available to the population, and inclusion of these channels should be essential in the health communication campaign; however, communicators cannot assume equality of access and availability of these channels even within an ethnic population.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Why do authoritarian regimes survive in countries with elections? The current literature posits that that authoritarian regimes remain in power by either repressing or co-opting elite opposition or use institutional designs to repress potential opposition from the mass level. I argue authoritarian durability does not rest exclusively in the survival strategies and coercive power of the regime, but rests as well with non-elite political actors. In the Middle East, tribes are non-elite, informal political institutions with tremendous resources and power. Tribes have become strong through a combination of serendipity and survival strategies. Tribes have exploited political party weakness to crowd them out of political venues including national elections. The most stunning example of this accomplishment is the necessity of tribal support for the successful election of IAF (Islamic Action Front/Muslim Brotherhood) candidates in the 2003 and 2007 elections. This paper adds a non-elite level explanation to the question of authoritarian durability and demonstrates that mass level actors have the institutional capacities to organize support and resources while in pursuit of political power even under an authoritarian regime.

Publication Type: Abstract
Abstract: INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE AND SOCIO-ECOLOGY:A CASE STUDY FROM NYISHI TRIBE OF ARUNACHAL PRADESH.

URVASHI PHUKAN,DEPARTMENT OF ECO-RESTORATION DIMORIA COLLEGE, KHETRI, ASSAM-782403,INDIA ,email-urvashi_phukan@yahoo.com



Indigenous people’s knowledge is invaluable for resource management. Their immediate contact and dependence on nature developed a curious knowledge which is ultimately reflected in their traditional culture, religion, local belief, folklore, taboos and dialects. Due to acculturation and upright tribal extinction, the indigenous knowledge system is gradually eroding. With a case study on one of the indigenous tribe of arunachal Pradesh the present paper highlights the socio-ecological analysis with some suggestions for revitalising the indigenous knowledge and its application in ecological restoration.

Publication Type: Proceeding
Abstract: Recent studies of state-building in the post-colonial world have suggested a
number of explanations for how tribes may inhibit the ability of central authorities to
extend a monopoly of violence over their peripheral territories. Because work in this
literature tends to view state-building at the macro-level, these theories cannot adequately
account for the fact that the creation of institutions to govern tribes is in fact often an
uneven and non-linear process. In this paper I examine the relationship between tribes
and states in two ways. First, I draw on literatures from anthropology, history, law, and
economics to derive hypotheses about why and how tribes shape the operation of
institutions of taxation and policing. Second, I examine the plausibility of these
hypotheses by looking at local variation in the success of the British in governing tribes
during the military occupation and civil administration of Iraq (1914-1920). In particular,
I find that three factors provide considerable leverage in understanding the uneven results
of British institution building in Iraq: 1) the extent to which tribes are mobile, 2) the
existence of conflicting property rights systems, and 3) the existence and severity of
feuding. I conclude by discussing what this analysis teaches us about the broader study
of tribes and state-building.