Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Research Fundamentals

Dog Meat, Cultural Identity, And Ethical Boundaries: A Sociocultural Analysis of Mizo Society

2026-10-01T05:06:27+00:00

Food practices are not merely nutritional activities but important sites through which societies construct identity, social distinction, morality, and cultural belonging. The consumption of dog meat presents a particularly complex case because dogs may simultaneously occupy categories of companion, animal, food, and culturally meaningful social object. This article examines dog-meat consumption in Mizo society through a sociocultural and interpretive framework, focusing on the relationship between cultural identity, food classification, moral boundaries, and changing ethical perceptions. The study adopts a qualitative conceptual methodology based exclusively on the provided anthropological and sociological literature. Particular attention is given to Appadurai's concept of food as a field of social negotiation, Douglas's analysis of purity and taboo, Bourdieu's theory of taste and distinction, Fischler's relationship between food and identity, and scholarship on human–animal relationships. The analysis indicates that attitudes toward dog meat cannot be adequately understood through a universal binary of acceptable and unacceptable food. Rather, they emerge through culturally specific systems of classification, socialization, historical experience, religious influence, and changing relationships between humans and animals. The article further argues that Mizo food practices should be understood as dynamic rather than culturally fixed. Moral disagreement surrounding dog meat reflects broader processes through which communities negotiate tradition, identity, modernity, and ethical change.

Perceived Career-Choice Autonomy, Family Influence, And Decision Confidence Among Uzbek Adolescents: An Exploratory Cross-Sectional Survey

2026-10-28T10:54:09+00:00

Background: Adolescents make career decisions while balancing interests, perceived abilities and family perspectives. Evidence describing these experiences among Uzbek adolescents remains limited. Objective: To describe career-choice priorities, family involvement and perceived autonomy, and explore associations of choice autonomy and interest alignment with decision confidence. Methods: An exploratory cross-sectional online survey collected responses from 62 adolescents aged 15–18 in Uzbekistan. One entirely blank spreadsheet record was excluded. Fourteen questionnaire items covered career preferences, family influence, perceived freedom, confidence and informational needs. We summarized frequencies and used Spearman rank correlations for exploratory associations between ordinal responses; Fisher’s exact test was used for a restricted two-by-two comparison. Results: Personal interests (49/62; 79.0%), skills (31/62; 50.0%) and salary (27/62; 43.5%) were the most frequently endorsed career-choice considerations. Family support was reported by 43/62 (69.4%); 15/62 (24.2%) said they had changed career plans because of family opinions. High perceived career-choice freedom (4–5/5) was reported by 44/62 (71.0%). Freedom was positively associated with career decision confidence (Spearman ρ = 0.481, p < 0.001), as was alignment with interests (ρ = 0.373, p = 0.0028). In a restricted comparison of participants reporting either changed or unchanged plans, change status was not clearly associated with high freedom (Fisher’s exact p = 0.085). Conclusions: In this nonrepresentative sample, personal interests predominated, while family influence and adolescents’ sense of autonomy coexisted. Observed associations are exploratory and cannot demonstrate causality.

The Development of Science and Cultural Life in Ustrushana During the Muslim Renaissance: Based on Archaeological and Written Sources

2026-10-09T10:22:35+00:00

This article analyzes the development of science and cultural life in the territory of Ustrushana during the Islamic period on the basis of archaeological and written sources. It shows that Ustrushana’s geographical location, its proximity to the branches of the Great Silk Road, urban planning, trade and crafts, irrigated agriculture, and defensive structures were important factors in the economic and cultural development of the region. The article also highlights the activities of the muhaddiths and faqihs who came from Ustrushana and their scholarly ties with Mawarannahr and other centers of Islamic learning. Using the examples of archaeological monuments of the Jizzakh oasis, such as Dizak, Kaliyatepa, Urda, Kizlartepa, Turtkultepa, and the Khudaysar rabat, the correspondence between the information in written sources and material evidence is examined.

Precision Livestock Farming in Uzbekistan Through Evidence Synthesis and A Technology-Context Fit Framework

2026-10-11T13:01:33+00:00

This study assesses which precision and digital livestock technologies suit Uzbekistan, where household farms keep about nine in ten cattle, and in what order they should be introduced. It combines an integrative review of six recent sources with national statistics and policy documents, re-examines published efficiency and productivity estimates, and scores 14 technologies on six context-fit criteria. Uzbekistan's livestock sector operated at a meta-frontier efficiency of 0.672 in 2000-2023, close to its income-group mean of 0.684, but its total factor productivity fell 0.6% a year, the weakest result in the group. Reported gains from precision livestock farming are large but come almost entirely from intensive, high-income farms. Six technologies reach the top tier, all of them shared services: animal identification, veterinary surveillance, mobile advisory, breeding services, digital milk collection and satellite pasture monitoring. Wearable sensors and precision feeding suit commercial farms, while robotic milking and computer vision rank last. The ranking is robust to weigh (Spearman's ρ of 0.94 and 0.98). The study proposes a three-phase adoption plan with measurable gates.