An Existential Anthropological Study of Selfhood, Uncertainty and Resilience Among Youth of Tando Ghulam Ali, Sindh

This study combines three orientations, namely existential thought about the meaning of ‘being’ and ‘existence, ’ phenomenological insights into ‘lived experience, ’ and anthropological endeavor at what it means to be human. It attempts to focus on the human conditions by directly engaging with human beings. Specifically guiding itself with the questions such as how young people engage in the meaning-making of their lived experiences in their life course’s ever-changing process. Taking its theoretical insights and inspiration from existential and phenomenological anthropology, by zooming in on lived experiences, the research was conducted using life story interviews to collect the narratives to gain understandings into the life-worlds as it is lived and made sense of by young people of Tando Ghulam Ali, a rural town of District Badin, Sindh. Based on the ethnographic data and observations, it is argued that the meaning-making of lived experiences was different among research participants with a strong presence of selfhood and self-consciousness temporally and affectively; the difference in orientation towards life is entangled with personal history as well. This research went beyond the horizons of culture and society to put existence, life, and being, which are silhouetted at meta-level, at the heart of anthropological focus. This research is an experimental research project in anthropology, which has attempted to step its foot into the human condition's terra incognita, which calls for anthropologists’ further exploration.

The Role of Rural Women in Agriculture and Their Training Needs: A Case Study of District Bahawalpur, Pakistan

Pakistan is a third world country with more than 162 million population. It has varied strata of life with multidimensional livelihood strategies. Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy. It has employed 44.8% of the work force. More than 51% of the country’s population comprises of women. Rural women play a significant role in various arenas of life. Ordinary farm women are the main players in sustaining life activities both at home and farm. They are active participants in agriculture, livestock management and poultry husbandry, also their participation in community development and social relations are recognizable. Whereas in livestock production they look after animals and do primary veterinary care. They also have to perform the domestic chores of cooking, cleaning the house, washing clothes, foster the kids and getting water and fuel supplies for domestic usage. Although they perform all of the above mentioned tasks, however, due to lack of resources, information, and technical guidance, they have to face difficulties to meet the challenges of the time. On account of their diverse preoccupations they lose their life time opportunity of education, nutrition, medicare and security. Due to lack of skill enhancement training, they are lagging behind in crop production, livestock management and post harvest operations resulting low yield of the crops and poor quality of the produce. To probe into the matter, a study was designed. The target area was District Bahawalpur which consists of five Tehsils namely Hasilpur, Bahawalpur, Khairpur Tamewali, Ahmadpur East and Yazman. Out of which two Tehsils were selected randomly and five union councils from each Tehsil were also randomly selected. From each selected union council 2 villages were selected randomly. From each selected village 20 women, who were engaged in agricultural activities, were selected through random sampling, thus making a total of 400 respondents. The data collection were effected under a pre-tested interview schedule designed for this purpose. The data thus collected, were analyzed and interpreted to draw the conclusions and to suggest measures for improvement. The results revealed that the majority of the women were involved in crop production activities such as cotton picking, wheat harvesting and drying of agriculture produce at the ordering of 1st, 2 nd and 3 rd respectively. In livestock sector, activities like whey making, milking, milk storage are the top three activities performed by women. The study also depicted an encouraging response against gender bias in fields like education and training. Most of the women (i.e., 375) selected daily training format for their skill enhancement. Instead of sociological constraints of the area, the dire need of the women is training and education in crop production activities, livestock management, poultry production and drying of fruits and vegetables.