Showing papers in "Contributions to Indian Sociology in 2004"
TL;DR: The concept of civil society in contemporary Bangladesh is therefore best understood as both a system and an idea, consisting of both ‘old and new civil society traditions, resisting tendencies to privilege only one (external, policy-focused) definition of the term.
Abstract: In common with most countries of South Asia and indeed the rest of the world, discussion of the concept of ‘civil society™ has emerged recently in Bangladesh among academics and activists. Much of it has been generated by the international aid agencies and their ‘good governance™ policy agenda of the 1990s, and is concerned primarily with the increasingly high profile community of local and national development non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which have emerged in Bangladesh since 1971. But there are also local meanings to the term derived from the independence struggle and the construction of a Bangladesh state, from local traditions of urban and rural voluntarism and from the organisation of religious life. The concept of civil society in contemporary Bangladesh is therefore best understood as both a ‘system™ and an ‘idea™, consisting of both ‘old™ and ‘new™ civil society traditions, resisting tendencies to privilege only one (external, policy-focused) definition of the term. By recognising these ...
96 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the identity of the new Indian woman in the rapidly altering cultural and social imaginary of India is constructed, shaped and redefined in the everyday experiences of women as they both contest and submit to the images and constructs that impinge on their senses, emotions, and material and social conditions.
Abstract: This article argues that the identity of the ‘new’ Indian woman in the rapidly altering cultural and social imaginary of India is constructed, shaped and redefined in the everyday experiences of women as they both contest and submit to the images and constructs that impinge on their senses, emotions, and material and social conditions. In this context, the article examines samples of advertisements, fashion photography and selected textual material from the Indian women’s magazine Femina to understand how body images serve to construct embodiment and womanhood through the medium of visual representation and textual discourse. The focus in the magazine is on the desirability of woman’s body, not only as a glamorous, well-groomed product, but also as a commercialised product for consumption in an international marketplace, thus affirming that India has arrived in the world of beauty and glamour, and legitimising the recolonisation of Indian woman’s embodiment in the global economy.
82 citations
TL;DR: A recent case of conflict between Ad-Dharmis and Jats in a village of Punjab over the question of representation in the management of a religious shrine is discussed in this article.
Abstract: Caste has invariably been seen in unitary terms, as a pan-Indian reality without any significant variations in its structure or ideology. While it was sanctioned through some Hindu scriptural sources, other Indian religious communities, 100, were believed to support the idea of hierarchy and practice caste in everyday life, albeit to a lesser degree. Despite scholarly criticisms of such theories and the many changes that caste has undergone over time, this view of caste has largely prevailed. This happens partly because the idea of caste has become embedded in the idea of India as a nation: caste is taken as proof of India's cultural continuity and a stable past .Taking a cue from a recent case of conflict between Ad-Dharmis and Jats in a village of Punjab over the question of representation in the management of a religious shrine, the article looks at caste in relation to Sikhism and in the regional context of contemporary Indian Punjab. I have tried to argue that, as in the case of other structures of s...
53 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an ethnographic exploration of the interlocking relationships between politics, popular democracy, religion and caste/community formation in a North Indian town is carried out through an analysis of the culture of political par ticipation of a community of Yadavs in Mathura town, western Uttar Pradesh.
Abstract: This article is an ethnographic exploration of the inter-locking relationships between politics, popular democracy, religion and caste/community formation in a North Indian town. This investigation is carried out through an analysis of the culture of political par ticipation of a community of Yadavs in Mathura town, western Uttar Pradesh. The Yadavs were traditionally a low- to middle-ranking cluster of pastoral-peasant castes that have become a significant political force in Uttar Pradesh (and other northern states like Bihar) in the last thirty years. The article demonstrates how the successful formation of a Yadav community , and the political activism of its members in Mathura, are partly linked to their descent view of caste, folk theories of religious descent, factionalism, and finally to their cultural understanding of 'the past' and 'the political'. It is concluded that Yadav socio-religious organisation directly and indirectly helped the Yadav community to adapt to the modern political world.
43 citations
Abstract: butioits to Indian sociology should have a special nuntber on caste, especially because so much interesting work is being done on it by scholars in India and abroad. Quite fortuitously we began to get a set of articles on caste and slowly the number began to take shape. Fortuitously again, these articles centred around the issue of caste identity, which is what made it so much easier to package this special number. It was also Patricia ’
38 citations
TL;DR: The recent Dalit assertion in Punjab can be traced back to the Ad Dharm movement of the 1920s, which emerged along with several similar movements in a number of regions in India as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Recent Dalit assertion in Punjab ought to be traced back to the Ad Dharm movement of the 1920s, which emerged along with several similar movements in a number of regions in India. The movement aime...
34 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the social factors operating behind the intervention of the caste panchayat and the success and limitations of this intervention in resolving such issues, highlighting fluctuations in the status of different clans, and the contemporary multi-directional pulls within a caste, with different groups either claiming a higher or equal status, or attempting to maintain their status against challenges and erosions effected by other clan groups within the caste fold.
Abstract: This article looks at the phenomenon of bitterly contested marriages in Haryana which breach the principles of village and clan exogamy, and analyses the issues thrown up by such marriages. Based on recent case studies, it examines the social factors operating behind the intervention of the caste panchayat—an extra-judicial body—and the success and limitations of this intervention in resolving such issues. The analysis highlights fluctuations in the status of different clans, and the contemporary multi-directional pulls within a caste, with different groups either claiming a higher or equal status, or attempting to maintain their status against challenges and erosions effected by other clan groups within the caste fold. The issue of contentious marriages reflects the degree of internal strife, conflict and cleavage in contemporary rural society in Haryana, underlining the way in which a combination of forces are using traditional tools for traditional as well as modern political purposes.
30 citations
TL;DR: The authors investigates the relationship between the legal codification of marriage undertaken by the state and subsequent shifts in ideals of conjugality amongst the Gaddis of Kangra, India, using ethno-graphic and legal sources.
Abstract: This article challenges Anthony Giddens’ thesis that, with modernity, sexuality, marriage and romantic love become progressively disconnected. It investigates the relationship between the legal codification of marriage undertaken by the state and subsequent shifts in ideals of conjugality amongst the Gaddis of Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, using ethno-graphic and legal sources. It examines changes in marriage forms and marriage pre-stations and analyses the relationship between legal processes and local ideals.
21 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors look at the practices of Jain merchant castes of north Gujarat and show how different religious understandings of purity combined with a merchant valorisation of mercantile activity results in the Jain merchants ranking themselves higher than Brahman non-merchants.
Abstract: Scholarship on caste has paid insufficient attention to alternative ideologies of caste, such as found in Jainism. and to understandings and practices of caste among the merchant castes that occupy a dominant position in the so-called middle ranges of caste hierarchies. This article looks at caste practice from the perspective of the Jain merchant castes of north Gujarat. Jain castes are excellent examples of the middle-range castes that have always created intractable problems for theories of caste. This article looks at understandings of inter-caste rankings between Jain merchants and non-Jain Brahmans, and shows how different religious understandings of purity combined with a merchant valorisation of mercantile activity results in the Jain merchants ranking themselves higher than Brahman non-merchants. It looks at intra-Jain and inter-caste interactions, and shows how merchant values of an urban and mercantile lifestyle are ranked higher than a rural and agricultural lifestyle. It then looks at intra-J...
19 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors tried to show how dalit communities are inventing their caste histories in the present context as stories of self-respect, and created local heroes to symbolise the glory of the community.
Abstract: In this article I have tried to show how dalit communities are inventing their caste histories in the present context as stories of self-respect. These self-respect centred histories are continuously being reshaped in today's socio-cultural and political context. Many sources, including archaeological, linguistic and ethnomusical sources, are cited to sub stantiate their authenticity. These histories are not merely presented as narratives; com memorations, celebrations and festivities are also organised around them so that they are ingrained in the memory of the dalits. Local heroes are also created in this process to symbolise the glory of the community. Uda Devi is one such heroic person, who has emerged as a symbol of mobilisation of the dalit communities, especially the Pasis, in their struggle for contemporary socio-political empowerment. The mobilisational poten tialities of such caste histories and heroes are the reason why different political parties have made them an integral element of their mod...
18 citations
Abstract: This article seeks to contribute to the conceptual understanding of caste in the light of field data collected from four villages of Bihar. Against the background of two major theoretical positions, the 'hierarchy' thesis and the 'difference'thesis, the article confirms the empirical validity of the 'difference' thesis by demonstrating that castes in these villages have their own ideologies, revealed mainly in diverse and discrete origin tales that contest their hierarchisation on a continuous vertical scale. This does not mean that castes do not hierarchise themselves in respect to one another, but that each caste has a discrete notion of caste hierarchy. Caste members are proud of their caste ideology, and it is this which gives salience to their identity. The phenomenon of caste conflict and struggle for power makes quite clear that castes operate in the villages as separate groups, independent of an all-encompassing caste hierarchy. This apart , there is no specific relationship between caste and occu...
TL;DR: The idea of replication of what Dumont considered the 'essential principle' of the Indian caste system has tended to deny the existence of cultural autonomy among the very low castes, especially among women.
Abstract: The idea of replication of what Dumont considered the 'essential principle' of the Indian caste system has tended to deny the existence of cultural autonomy among the very low castes, especially th...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide detailed ethno graphic data on the Bedias of North India, a denotified community which lives off the prostitution of its own women, and show that the community redefines the non-marital relations of the women with men belonging to higher-ranking castes through recourse to upper-caste norms of patriliny and hypergamy in order to claim uppercaste origin and affiliation.
Abstract: This article attempts to further the argument that caste hierarchies are subject to creative manipulation by those who inhabit the supposedly fixed slots. I provide detailed ethno graphic data on the Bedias of North India, a 'denotified' community which lives off the prostitution of its own women. The engagement in this occupation renders the Bedias very 'low' in general opinion. But the data regarding the beliefs and practices of the Bedias shows that the community redefines the non-marital relations of the women with men belonging to higher-ranking castes through recourse to upper-caste norms of patriliny and hypergamy in order to claim upper-caste origin and affiliation. In doing so the community rejects the social position which the broader society accords it.
TL;DR: In this paper, the kinship terminology of one of the Dravidian communities, the Yanadi, inhabiting the Sriharikota island, Andhra Pradesh, India, was examined.
Abstract: Distinctive in its content and nature, Dravidian kinship has been the object of considerable interest and debate among social anthropologists and sociologists studying South Asian social systems. This article examines the kinship terminology of one of the Dravidian communities, the Yanadi, inhabiting the Sriharikota island, Andhra Pradesh, India. In this endeavour, some of the theoretical issues concerning Dravidian kinship are reflected upon and attempts are made to resolve some issues in the light of the Yanadi data. It is argued that the native classification of kinsmen and the cultural construction of affinal relatives reflect a close association of the kinship terminology with cross-cousin marriage and affinity. The article underlines the importance of a cultural analysis of kinship to supplement the formal and widely-employed structural analysis of kinship terminologies.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the kind of politics Dalits have been playing and subsequently the various challenges that they face in contemporary India, and the contributors analyse various aspects of-Dalit politics, identity and movement.
Abstract: times. However, this path is very difficult for the Dalits. (For example, in Maharashtra, atrocities have been comitted on those who got elected to the gram panchayat.) The contributors to this volume analyse various aspects of-Dalit politics, identity and movement. This valuable collection examines the kind of politics Dalits have.been playing and subsequently the various challenges that they face in contemporary India. Dalit and Bahujan now occupy centrestage in Indian politics, and nobody can take them for