Overview dissertations 2010

Saima Hamid Division of Global health (IHCAR), Karolinska Institutet Medical University, Stockholm defended her doctoral dissertation entitled ”Becoming a Woman in Silence: Studies on preparedness for reproductive life of young women in Pakistan” at IHCAR on 8 December 2010. The study explores the preparedness of young women for married life (communicating with spouse, initiation of sexual activity and child bearing) and ability to negotiate in marriage with spouse on number of children to have and on contraceptive use. In a culture of silence around sexuality, young women’s socialisation into submissiveness lays the foundation for the lack of control over their future reproductive health (I and II). The parents realised, though, that bringing up daughters for marriage requires not only obedience, but also building confidence and knowledge during their childhood (III). Women who had decision making freedom in their parental home carried this ability with them into marriage in their new home and were better able to negotiate about their fertility (IV). Knowledge about reproductive life could prepare young women better for the future life and give them more control of their fertility. Innovative interventions targeting women need to challenge current societal norms of womanhood to promote the upbringing of confident and knowledgeable young women.

The faculty opponent was Associate Professor Pia Olsson, Department of Women's and Children's Health, International Maternal and Child Health (IMCH), Uppsala University. More information, including link to full-text thesis. 
 

Marie-Thérèse Charpentier, Dept. of of Comparative Religion, Åbo Akademi University in Turku, Finland, defended her doctoral dissertation entitled ”Indian Female Gurus in Contemporary Hinduism. A Study of Central Aspects and Expressions of Their Religious Leadership” on Friday 26 November 2010. The faculty opponent was Prof. Mathieu Boisvert, Département de sciences des religions at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Canada. The thesis focuses on the fact that the rich and complex history of Hinduism primarily has been written by male scholars and has documented the point of view of male spiritual strivings. This fact, together with patriarchal opinions expressed in many authoritative sacred texts, has contributed to creating an image of Indian spirituality in which female religious experience is either absent or considerably marginalized. Venue: Auditorium Armfelt, Arken, Fabriksgatan 2, Turku (Åbo), Finland.
More information. 
 

Jenny Wickford, Department of Clinical Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, defended her doctoral dissertation entitled ”Physiotherapists in Afghanistan. Exploring, encouraging & experiencing professional development in the Afghan development context” on Monday 15 November 2010. The aim of the thesis is to analyze the matter of supporting professional development of physiotherapists in Afghanistan, and the issues involved in expatriate physiotherapists working with professional development cross-culturally in development contexts. The thesis is based on two field studies. The faculty opponent is Professor Dennis Beach, School of Education & Behavioural Sciences, University of Borås. Venue: Academicum Hörsal Arvid Carlsson, Medicinaregatan 3, Gothenburg.
Read the full-text thesis. 
 

David Hansen, Dept. of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages (IKOS), University of Oslo, defended his doctoral dissertation entitled ”Radical Rhetoric – Moderate Behavior: Perceptions of Islam, Shari’a, and the Radical Dimension(s)” on Thursday 11 November 2010. The thesis is an empirical study of the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, examining everyday life, beliefs, rhetoric, and rituals relating to Islam and Islamic practices, in order to interpret, analyze and present a picture of everyday perceptions of contemporary Islam and what is increasingly related to as ”the new face of Islam” or ”growing radical Islam in Pakistan”. The main approach has been to look at four main dimensions, or core-categories: – Contemporary Islam in Pakistan; – Sufism (piri-muridi, sufiyyat) in Pakistan; – Modernity (jadidiyyat) vis-a-vis the traditional Pakistan; and, – Politics of Otherness (ghairiyyat) in Pakistan. More information on David Hansen’s research.

The examination committee consisted of Dr. Stephen Cohen, Foreign Policy Studies Program, The Brookings Institution in Washington D.C., USA; Prof. Tor Halvdan Aase, University of Bergen; Prof. Pamela Gwynne Price, IAKH, University of Oslo; and Prof. Ute Hüsken, IKOS. More information on the dissertation (only in Norwegian)
 

Malin Gregersen, Department of History, Lund University defended her doctoral dissertation entitled ”Fostering Obligations. Representations of a Mission in South India in the First Half of the 20th Century” on Friday 8 October 2010. The thesis focuses on narratives from Swedish missionaries working in the small town of Tirupattur, Tamil Nadu, and their influence in the formation of early 20th century Swedish world views. Malin Gregersen problematizes the issue by pointing out that these narratives of everyday life in foreign countries were formulated out of a mission, not only to convert to christianity but to foster and mould people according to their different ideals. The faculty opponnent was Prof. Kajsa Ahlstrand, World Christianity and Interreligious Studies, Faculty of Theology, Uppsala University. Venue: Dept. of History, hall 3, Magle Stora Kyrkogata 12 A, Lund.
Full information, including link to full-text tesis.
 

Sohaib Khan, Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland (Kuopio Campus), defended his doctoral dissertation entitled ”Poliomyelitis in socio-cultural context – study from province Punjab, Pakistan” on Friday 24 September 2010. It is a study of Poliomyelitis, an infectious disease, which is still endemic in four countries in the world: Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and Nigeria. Eradication activities focus mainly on the mass immunization of children under 5 years age with OPV (Oral Polio Vaccine). The present study explored the disease in context of social and cultural factors in province Punjab, Pakistan. The opponent in the public examination was Professor Sirpa Janhonen of the University of Oulu. More information.

Syed Farid-ul-Hasnain in the Research Group on Epidemiology and Health systems research focusing on equity and gender at the Division of Global health (IHCAR), Karolinska Institutet Medical University, Stockholm, defended his doctoral dissertation entitled ”Young Adults in Urban Pakistan; Barriers and Challenges for Improving Health Behaviors in the wake of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic” on Thursday 16 September 2010. The thesis is grounded in the fact that HIV/AIDS is spreading globally more specifically among the younger generation. The impact of HIV/AIDS on the youth cannot be underestimated. The studies were conducted in the city of Karachi, Pakistan, which is the largest city and the economic and commercial hub of Pakistan and comprises of people from all ethnic backgrounds.

The study reveals that females were twice as likely to dropout of school/college as males. The risk factors for school/college dropout for both males and females were migrant residential status, living in an extended family and low socio- economic status. Furthermore, females exhibited a higher level of awareness about STDs and HIV/AIDS than the males, irrespective of whether they had dropped out of school or not. Venue: Rockefeller Hall, Nobels Väg 11, Solna Campus, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm.
Read an abstract with a link to the full-text thesis.
 

Guro Aandahl, Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM), University of Oslo, Norway, defended her dissertation in Human Geography, entitled ”Technocratic dreams and troublesome beneficiaries. The Sardar Sarovar (Narmada) Project in Gujarat” on Friday 18 June 2010. The thesis focuses on the relationship between planning and implementation in the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP). It is a study of two areas hitherto neglected in the Narmada research: 1) the perspectives of the planners and engineers, and 2) the actions and perceptions of the beneficiaries of the project. By contextualising the SSP within the history of thinking about, and doing, ‘development’, she offers a new perspective on the SSP. The opponents were Prof. Stuart Corbridge, Development Studies Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE); and Dr. Radha D`Souza, School of law, University of Westminister, UK. More information.
 

Helle Jørgensen, Department of History and Area Studies, Aarhus University, Denmark, defended her doctoral dissertation, entitled ”Tranquebar – Whose History? Transnational Cultural Heritage in a Former Danish Trading Colony in South India” on Thursday 17 June 2010. The town of Tranquebar on the East Coast of South India was a Danish trading colony in the years 1620-1845. Tranquebar has been declared a heritage town by the government of Tamil Nadu due to the well-preserved townscape from the Indo-Danish colonial period, and the town has for decades been subject to both Danish and Indian attempts at preservation and promotion as a destination of heritage tourism. But whose – and which – heritage is being secured through this development? The dissertation comprises an anthropological study of the dynamic social process in which the townscape of Tranquebar has become subject to promotion as a materialisation of transnational history. The thesis focuses on the negotiations of historicity that come into play between the many stakeholders in the present development of Tranquebar, including the residents, heritage and tourism developers, public authorities, researchers, and tourists. More information about the research project.

The Assessment Committee consisted of Associate professor Lisanne Wilken, Aarhus University; Professor Mary Hancock, Department of Anthropology and History, University of California, USA; and Professor Sharon MacDonald, School of Sciences, University of Manchester, England.
 

Kristine Eck, Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University, defended her doctoral dissertation entitled ”Raising Rebels: Participation and Recruitment in Civil War” on Saturday 5 June 2010. The thsis is based on fieldwork in Nepal, and tries to explain why some individuals choose to participate in rebellion, and what recruitment tactics rebel groups use to affect this decision? These questions are central to the study of civil war because rebel groups must raise troops in order to challenge the government and to survive as an organization. Faculty opponent was Stathis Kalyvas, Arnold Wolfers Professor of Political Science and Director of the Program on Order, Conflict, and Violence at Yale University, USA. Venue for the dissertation: Gustavianum (Auditorium Minus), Akademigatan 3, Uppsala. More information, including abstract.
 

Satu Ranta-Tyrkkö, Department of Social Work Research, University of Tampere, Finland, defended her doctoral dissertation entitled ”At the Intersection of Theatre and Social Work in Orissa, India: Natya Chetana and Its Theatre” on Saturday 22 May 2010. The study is an ethnography on the theatre group Natya Chetana (Theatre for Awareness) working in the state of Orissa in Eastern India, and the group’s work as social work. At the same time, relying on its empirical standpoints, the study participates in the discussion on international, increasingly global social work. Although driven by social work interest, the study is strongly interdisciplinary: Besides social work, anthropological, theatre, postcolonial and South Asian studies also inform the subject matter of the work. More information, with link to full-text thesis.
 

Abdel Baten Miaji, Section of Islamology, Department of History of Religions; Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, Lund University, defended his doctoral dissertation entitled ”Rural Women in Bangladesh: The Legal Status of Women and the Relationship between NGOs and Religious Groups” on Friday 21 May 2010. The faculty opponent was Dr. Monica Erwér, School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg (but currently working as Team Leader for the Swedish non-governmental organisation The Swallows India Bangladesh section in Lund). The thesis focuses on how religious and traditional customs affect the socio-economic condition of women in Bangladesh. More information.
 

Jannie Lilja, Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University, defended her doctoral dissertation entitled ”Disaggregating Dissent: The Challenges of Intra-Party Consolidation in Civil War and Peace Negotiations”, on Wednesday 12 May 2010. It partly deals with Sri Lanka. Elisabeth Jean Wood, Professor of Political Science at Yale University, USA, will be the faculty opponent. The thesis discusses the fact that contemporary civil wars are often characterized not only by fighting between rebels and governments, but also by rebel violence against their own community members. In spite of repeated peace negotiations, many of these conflicts seem to go on endlessly. The dissertation approaches the question of rebel capacity by disaggregating the non-state side in civil war and in connection with peace talks. It offers a set of original case studies from three ethno-separatist conflicts: Sri Lanka, Indonesian Aceh, and Senegal.
More information, incl. link to full-text dissertation.
 

• During the period 2005-10, Dr. Fauziah Rabbani, Associate Professor at the Dept. of Community Health Sciences at Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan, carried out a sandwich PhD training at the Division of Global health (IHCAR), Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. On 24 March 2010, she defended her doctoral dissertation entitled ”Science and practice of balanced scorecard in a hospital in Pakistan: Feasibility, context, design and implementation”. At IHCAR, she has been a member of the multidisciplinary research group “Health Systems and Policy” (HSP), led by Prof. Göran Tomson. More information.

The external examiner was Dr. Zoe Radnor, Associate Professor, Warwick Business School, UK. The main aim of the thesis was to determine whether Balanced Scorecard hospital management application is feasible in the context of a low- income hospital setting, to identify organizational culture, as well as design the scorecard and describe the contextual barriers and strategic processes that hinder or facilitate its implementation. More information, with a link to the full-text thesis.
 

Ted Svensson, Dept. of Political Science, Lund University, defended his doctoral dissertation entitled ”Meanings of Partition: Production of Postcolonial India and Pakistan” on 23 March 2010 at the Dept. of Political Science, Warwick University in UK, where he carried out his PhD programme. The thesis constitutes an analysis of the partition of British India and the ensuing state formation and state consolidation in the region. Hed Svensson argues that a study of the so-called transfer of power – and of the inclusion of the notions of ‘Partition’ and ‘Independence’ as key elements of Indian and Pakistani nation building – ought to contain a recognition of the labour by the political elites to overwrite the abyssal and ambiguous character of becoming independent and postcolonial. The external opponent at the dissertation was Prof. Jenny Edkins from Aberystwyth University, UK. More information, with an abstract.
 

Mikkel Rytter, Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen, defended his doctoral dissertation entitled ”Family Upheaval. Generation, Mobility and Relatedness among Pakistani Migrants in Denmark” on 5 March 2010. This thesis deals with Pakistani migrant families who have been living more or less permanently in Denmark since the late 1960s or early 1970s. After four decades in Denmark, many families have achieved levels of material prosperity, economic security and social mobility that the first generation could only dream of before they left Pakistan; however, their success has come at a price. Based on multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork with Pakistani family networks in Denmark, Sweden and Pakistan from 2001-2008 this thesis focuses on the current ongoing intergenerational and transnational negotiations of what it implies to ‘be' and ‘do' family. The evaluation committee consisted of Prof. Pnina Werbner, Keele University, UK, Associate Professor Filippo Osella, University of Sussex, UK, and Associate Professor Helle Bundgaard, University of Copenhagen. More information.
 

Ferdinando Sardella, Department of Literature, History of Ideas, and Religion, University of Gothenburg, defended his doctoral dissertation entitled ”Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati. The Context and Significance of a Modern Hindu Personalist” on Saturday 6 February 2010. The faculty opponent was Julius Lipner, Professor in Hinduism och Comparative Religion at the Divinity Faculty, University of Cambridge, UK. The thesis is based on field work carried out in West Bengal, India, where he spent a total of one year during the period 2004–08. This study explores the life and work of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati (1874-1937), a Vaishnava guru of the school of Chaitanya (1486-1534), who, at a time that Hindu non-dualism was most prominent, manag ed to establish a pan-Indian movement for the modern revival of traditional personalist bhakti that today encompasses both Indian and non-Indian populations throughout the world. More information.
 

Swedish researcher Henrik Chetan Aspengren has been awarded a PhD from the Dept. of Politics and International Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, UK. The viva took place on 12 January 2010. Examiners were Dr Vernon Hewitt, University of Bristol, and Prof. Sanjay Seth, Goldsmiths, University of London. In the thesis, entitled ”Social Imperialism – And how it was applied in the Bombay Presidency, 1895–1925”, Aspengren deals with the making of the ’the social’ as a space of government intervention, amid growing urban unrest and assertive nationalism in colonial, western India. It discusses the influence of social liberalism, and sociology, on the local British administration in the Bombay Presidency, and the implementation of actual projects of sanitation, housing and education. Read an abstract of the thesis.
Dr. Aspengren is now connected to the Dept. of History, Uppsala University.