Tibetan women refugees 1995
Work is in progress to produce a video film on the status of Tibetan women refugees in India and
Nepal. It will be shown at the UN Women's Conference next year in Beijing. The video's producers
are assessing the ability of traditional culture to adapt but at the same time maintain continuity as
communities undergo complete emotional and physical disruption. The number of refugees is growing
worldwide. Their ability to survive under the harsh circumstances that present themselves to refugees
often depends on the degree to which the refugees have managed to create real community. The
indigenous knowledge they put to use affects their health, living conditions, and social roles. The
video explores the changing role of women in Tibetan communities: the old social patterns that
support women and children in refugee settlements; and the possibilities for achieving social and
economic security. The role of education has been especially stressed by the Tibetan Women's
Association. A personal look at how women perceive their own lives compared with those of their
mothers and daughters foretells the continuing viability of traditional Tibetan culture. This is a rare
look at the indigenous knowledge that women hold in the culture.
The video is being produced by Roslyn Dauber and Vanessa Smith and will be available in English
and Tibetan.
Contact: Roslyn Dauber, D.F.S., 2341 Chumash Road, Malibu, CA 90265, USA.
Tel: +1-310-456 9814. Tel/Fax: +1-310-393 7322.
An ethnopharmacologist's tour to Qing-Tibet plateau
This 58-minute video film, with commentary in English, introduces you to Qing-Tibet plateau in the
remote western part of China. This plateau enjoys great fame as 'the roof of the world'. The video
offers the audience unique access to the holy mountain of Tibetans, and to the magnificent Himalayan
Mountains, the endless grassland, and splendid glaciers. Elegance and uniqueness characterizes the
wildlife of this holy land. Traditional Tibetan culture is introduced by this video, which also offers
insight into the secrets of the kingdom of Lamaism. The rich content of traditional Tibetan medicine
becomes apparent, and the video gives the audience a broad impression of a unique medical system
with a history that goes back more than a thousand years.
The video is meant as an informative visual reference for the benefit of conservationists, economic
botanists, ethnopharmacologists, phytochemists, anthropologists, and students majoring in botany,
medical anthropology, and pharmacy.
The video is edited by Xia Quan and Kong Jie. For more information on the video, and on how to
place orders:
Dr Xia Quan, c/o Ms Kong Jie, Rm. 409, Family Dependent Building, No. 4, Northwest Normal
University, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, 730070, China. Tel: +86-931-7668111 Ext. 514. Fax: +86-
931-7668159.
Discoveries on the farmers' track: prints and pictures on agricultural innovation.
This is a multi-media package produced in 1994 that includes two videos. 'The system and
the soil' (40 minutes) focuses on the knowledge systems involved in agriculture in the republic of
Benin, and 'A day in the country' (50 minutes) depicts the changing knowledge systems influencing
agriculture in The Netherlands. In addition to the two videos, the package includes 'The setting:
background on agricultural innovation', written by Niels Roling, Jet Proost, and Constant
Dangbegnon. This illustrated 36-page booklet provides general background information on the nature
of innovations and agricultural knowledge systems, and specific data on these systems in The
Netherlands and Benin. 'Ideas and images', a 24-page illustrated workbook compiled by Peter Linde
and Gerard Straver is an excellent teaching guide for use with the videos.
The entire package is available in either French or English and can be ordered from TVE Training
and Distribution Centre, P.O. Box 7, 3700 AA Zeist, The Netherlands. Tel: +31-3404-20499. Fax:
+31-3404-22484.
The package is free of charge to governmental, non-governmental and educational organizations in
low and middle income countries. All that is required is a letter explaining and justifying how the
package will be used. The price of the package for commercial organizations and organizations in
high income countries is US$150. Orders should indicate which language (French or English) and
video system (PAL, NTSC or SECAM) are preferred.
The videos and booklets were produced by Peter Linde, director of Peter Linde Productions, P.O.
Box 485, 6700 AL Wageningen, the Netherlands. This package is excellent and will be of great use
to everyone involved in agriculture, rural development and extension services in either the North or
the South. It is the first production of its type that places agricultural knowledge systems of the North
and South on an equal footing and views them from the same perspective. (Mike
Warren)
Questions of difference: PRA, gender and the environment.
The links between gender, environment and development have been the subject of much discussion. It
has become clear that many environmental activities are undertaken by both women and men, with or
without outside support, and that gender analysis is essential for the success of any sustainable
development activity. While work has been undertaken to develop frameworks for understanding
gender issues in agriculture and forestry, such approaches have generally been based on formal survey
methods and have therefore remained the speciality of academics and policy makers.
Alongside these developments, Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) has been characterized by a
dramatic spread and continuous innovation. PRA is an intensive and interactive field-based learning
process, which gives both local people and outsiders new insights into the range of local constraints,
priorities and possibilities for action. The analysis results from the use of diagramming by local
people as the basis for semi-structured interviews. Until recently, however, PRA had seldom been
used to provide a gender perspective. There is a growing appreciation of the way in which it can shed
light on the links between gender issues and natural resources management, especially for
fieldworkers who are frequently faced with complex local realities.
Questions of Difference (produced in English, French and Portuguese) was
developed to fill the existing gaps in PRA and gender training material. The training approach
combines recent developments in PRA with existing conceptual frameworks on gender, to provide a
practical and detailed approach to gender analysis in natural resource management. The focus of the
material is the presentation of practical tools, based on PRA principles, to enable fieldworkers to
understand gender issues and to incorporate them into their work.
This multi-lingual training package produces by IIED's Sustainable Agriculture Programme comprises
a four-part video, a trainer's guide and a slide set. It is available in English, French and
Portuguese.
Contact: IIED, Sustainable Agriculture Programme, 3 Endsleigh Street, WC1H 0DD
London, UK.