Volume 07 - Issue 02

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    A Critical Reading of Environmental Kuznets Curve: CO2 Emissions in a Developing Country
    (Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2015) Tutulmaz, Onur
    Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) proposes a non-monotonic relationship between the environment and economic level. It also tries to define another important reduced relationship along with economic development. Therefore it has become an attraction for empirical studies giving reference for almost all the areas of the subject of the relationship between economy and environment. An important empirical area of the hypothesis is between CO2 emission which is a global emission and GDP per capita being the representative of economic development. The present and near future situations of the environmental pressure are evaluated by taking the CO2 emission as a representative of environmental pressure. Being directly connected to energy, CO2 emissions are generally evaluated differently than other emissions. Our study critically analyzes main confusions in the literature in terms of the interpretation of the EKC applications on developing countries using primarily example of estimates for Turkey‟s CO2 emissions. As for reduced form EKC time series analyses for Turkey, there are a few statistically robust analyses; and a main diversion cause from minor econometric analysis try to be clarified here. As to the physical emission values, it is not difficult to predict a short term rise for the carbon dioxide emission level. Particularly, Turkey, as a developing country with lower values is very likely to show further environmental pressure increase in terms of carbon dioxide emission in the short-term. On the other hand, we analyze the main point need to be cleared for a developing country EKC is evaluation of longrun attractor, referring to the cointegration concept Engle and Granger (1991) introduced, which hints the shape of long run relationship. Therefore, we attempt to unite the mathematics of the theory, use analytic investigation and the inferences of the econometric estimations to respond to critiques raised.
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    Your morning cuppa and the language of disability: a study of usage of metaphors and attitudes in telugu news reporting
    (Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2015) Bendukurthi, Nookaraju
    Language is an important arbiter of meaning: it builds our understanding of the world and shapes our beliefs. What we know and what we believe about a particular phenomenon has a lot to do with the specific words used to describe and discuss it. Framing disability language in the vernacular media is a matter of contentious debate. Much abuse and harassment of disabled persons occurs as a matter of ―hate reporting‖ in journalism, which is as offensive as an abusive act or expression. The ―objective reporting‖ of journalism has been redirected and hijacked by the ―dominant meaning‖ of elite media in congruence with their ideology. The impact of journalism on framing language related to disability in the news media often negatively impacts the lives of people with disabilities. Ableist language frames are also responsible for creating, modifying and even changing societal and individual attitudes. The most commonly found Ableist vocabulary, often used metaphorically, such as „going blind‟, „turning a deaf ear‟, and so on in print media, lends meanings of deficit and worthlessness to disability. Such usage gives us ample evidence of conceptualizations and beliefs that inform the contemporary understanding of disability. Early insights from frame analysis of Telugu regional print media have prompted closer attention to the language of disability that filters audience perspectives about human differences. This paper investigates the dynamics of disability terminology in Telugu newspapers and focuses in the inadvertent and habitual usage of stigmatizing terminology in media, which allows us to identify the realities of a life of difference - physical, cognitive or cultural.
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    Sacred Geography of Chalukya Temples
    (Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2015) Niharika, S.
    Badami, Aihole, Pattadakal and Mahakuta are situated in Bagalkot district of the state of Karnataka on and near the banks of river Malaprabha. The Malaprabha valley became the settling ground for human habitation from earliest times. This is evident from a number of prehistoric remains that have been discovered. The reason why the Chalukyas of Badami chose this area as their dynastic hold and why they built the various religious monuments in the region appears to have been a mystery until recent times. It is a possibility that the earlier sites of Guledgudda, Bachangudda, Kyaddigeri, Chilapur, Siddhanakolla and Nagral displaying dolmens and megaliths made the adjoining geography sacred which is why when the Chalukyas of Badami came in power, they found these areas ideal from religious point of view for temple construction. This may also mean an evolution of religious beliefs where the Chalukyas might not have believed in religiosity of dolmens and megaliths but surely understood „sacred-ness‟ of the landscape. These transformations led to a reinvention of the landscape for the construction of temples often in close proximity to rock shelters and megalithic structures. Sacred landscapes during Chalukya reign were complex religious and memorial spaces. There was a clear association between the religious affiliation of Chalukya rulers and those of pastoralists in the region especially in the second half of their rule. Female deity worship such as that of Saptamatrikas and Lajja-gauri, signifies the introduction of fertility rituals. This incorporation of ritual practices and beliefs indicates a complex political and social relationship that the Chalukyas forged in order to continue their rule. It can be said that the Malaprabha valley was chosen as the core area by the Chalukyas of Badami because of its rich „past-histories‟.
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    Indian Environmentalism: Discourse, Politics and Fragments
    (Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2015) Tripathy, Jyotirmaya
    It is often customary to represent environmentalism in the industrialised North as a predominantly middle class phenomenon whereas Indian environmentalism is hyphenated with questions of equity and distributive justice. When it is true that Indian environmental activism is a response to developmental challenges posed by the state and the penetration of global capital, there is an uncritical and unproblematic theorization of such activism that often reduces Indian environmentalism to questions of life and livelihood. The present paper challenges conventional theoretical assumptions of Indian environmentalism by highlighting the fractures within the theory and practice of Indian environmental discourses. It engages with questions like how competing conceptions of environment and development bring forth new dimensions to human-environment relationship. How the political expressions of these movements repress and produce conflicting narratives? What counts as environment and environmental problems? Drawing from the theoretical vocabulary of post-structuralism, the paper uses existing theoretical literature as an entry point to engage with more critical questions of representation, authenticity etc. It also uses qualitative data drawn from visits to two areas of environmental activism (anti-POSCO movement and anti-Vedanta movement in Odisha) which includes interviews with various groups of people. At a theoretical level, the paper argues that representing Indian environmentalism as a survival imperative not only zoifies affected people, but also projects the North as the subject of environmental history. The site visit and interviews establish that affected people in the POSCO and Vedanta project areas are not uniform in their response to ideas like, development‟, state and „people‟. It is also revealed that questions of identity, class and gender mediate the way people experience state and „development‟.
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    Determinants of income diversification of flue cured tobacco barn owners in Sri Lanka
    (Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2015) Jayamanna, G.G.M.D.T.; Dharmadasa, R.A.P.I.S.; Abeysekara, N.N.R.; Ekanayake, E.M.J.B.
    Except tobacco farming, tobacco barn owners move to different income sources such as other crop cultivation and non-Agricultural activities due to clear differences in the living status. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the determinants of flue cured barn owner’s income diversification and share of income sources to total household income at Galewela, Polonnaruwa and Mahiyanganaya in Sri Lanka. The study drew a sample of 302 flue cured barn owners through random sampling technique from the three different regions and the data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Herfindhal diversification index and Censored Tobit regression. The results indicate that the level of income diversification among the flue cured tobacco barn owners in Sri Lanka depicted by the inverse of Herfindhal index is 3.02. According to Herfindhal index, the highest income diversification is observed in Mahiyangana area while the lowest income diversification is observed in Galewela area. The age of the barn owner, experience in tobacco cultivation, land ownership of the barn owner, total land availability (leased and tenure), capital goods ownership (tractors), tobacco specific resource endowment (number of barns), and distance to the nearest town were the major determinants of income shares from different sources of activities.