Disputes and arguments amongst nomads : a caste council in India
This book provides the first detailed analysis of a traditional Indian legal institution, a caste panchayat. It discusses the organization of the panchayat, the cases handled by it and the rationale behind its decisions and also the reasons why such institutions are not compatible with the Indian democracy.
Criminal Proceedings in India and the Question of Culture. An Anthropological Perspective
The history of the Indian legal order shows an intricate construction of institutions and codifications which relate to the British legal system, to Hindu or Muslim traditions (partly reinvented), and, since independence, to various international interactions. The question of culture - local, religious, or national- has thus regularly been at the core of juristic concerns, whether to leave place to aspects of personal law according to more or less reified representations of culture, or to impose a reformist legal agenda. Scholarship in this domain has followed two main trends: one is the study of the cultural components of Indian law; the other is the study of the cultural use of the Courts. The present chapter aims at presenting another, less explored, approach, focusing on Court proceedings and how they tackle with the cultural components of the cases to be decided in practice.
Professional support in rural New South Wales: perceptions of new graduate occupational therapists.
OBJECTIVE
To explore the experiences of professional support among new graduates working in rural New South Wales, including the current availability of professional support and the impact of support levels on professional practice.


DESIGN
Qualitative, using semistructured face-to-face or telephone interviews.


SETTING
New graduate occupational therapists employed in public and private hospitals and community health services in rural New South Wales.


SUBJECTS
Nine new graduate occupational therapists within their first year of practice.


MAIN OUTCOME
A description of participant experiences of professional support and strategies to enhance the recruitment and retention of occupational therapists in rural areas.


RESULTS
Participants reported varied experiences of professional support and emphasised the importance of having access to a wide variety of resources. Participants highlighted that professional support could assist in developing independence and other skills. However, ultimately a lack of support resulted in decreased confidence and subsequent decreased job satisfaction among participants.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings suggest that greater effort should be directed to ensuring that all new graduates have access to professional support, including structured supervision, and that strategies be explored and adopted to ensure that this occurs.