All about anthropology
'Indian society is still interdependent'
The Rediff Interview | Dr Arjun Appadurai, anthropologist
http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/aug/08inter1.htm
August 08, 2006
Dr Arjun Appadurai, the Mumbai-born anthropologist, writer and professor at the New School University in New York says he is optimistic with Mumbai's message that attacks on its infrastructure and daily life will not become pretexts for internal witch-hunts and pogroms.
http://www.cirs-tm.org/org-eng.php?pays=In...atiere=anthropo
Department of Anthropology
The Department of Anthropology provides facilities for intensive training and research in the areas of Social Anthropology, Medical Anthropology and Visual Anthropology. The Department aims to train candidates who are oriented towards advanced research and training related to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and rural studies.
Special Grants
Major research projects were received from University Grants Commission, New Delhi Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, and Ministry of Social Justice Empowerment.
Programmes of study
M.A. Anthropology
Ph.D. Anthropology
The Men Behind the Mission
The NRLC has a team of professionally trained conservation scientists and conservators. The conservators are drawn from chemistry and fine arts disciplines, and conservation scientists comprise of mostly chemists, some biologists and one each of physics and geology. The total strength of technical persons in NRLC is 54.
Analytical Division :To conduct research and analysis of archeological, ethnographical objects, metal, stone, paintings etc. The division is well equipped with sophisticated instruments of XRF/XRD,SEM-EDAX, AAS,IR,HPLC,etc.
Biodeterioration Division: This division carries out studies involving damaged museum materials, monuments & buildings by various living organisms like fungi, algae, insects, etc.This division is having sophisticated Research microscopes, BOD incubator, Environmental chamber,etc.
Conservation Division: This division gives technical assistance to museums, archaeological departments, archives, and other institutions. Conservation treatment of all types of deterioration is done here.
Metal division: This division is engaged in developing better methods of conservation for the objects, besides making efforts to improve upon the existing ones.This division is also carrying out the metallographic study of various metal objects.This division is having the metallurgical microscopes, Ultrasonic thickness gauze, Micro hardness tester , etc.
Paper Division: This division caters to the need of research for evolving better methods of conservation of archival materials. This division is having Folding endurance tester, Tensile strength tester,etc.
Stone Division: This division has with it a multitude of facilities for carrying out a number of studies like chemical, physical, mineralogical and petrological characterization of deteriorated samples. The instruments available with this division are Stone cutting and grinding equipment, Material testing machine, UV spectrophotometer, Mercury porosimeter, etc.
http://www.nrlccp.org/aboute.htm
What is NRLC ?
The National Research Laboratory for Conservation of Cultural Property (NRLC) is a subordinate office of the Department of culture, Govt. of India established in 1976 to provide support in the conservation of cultural property to cultural institutions throughout the country ,carry out research for development of newer methods of conservation and to provide training in the field of conservation.. The Laboratory has full-fledged teams of conservators and conservation scientists to work on different aspects of material like metals, stone, manuscripts, textiles, wooden objects, paintings, ethnographical materials, etc. Over the years, the Laboratory has developed expertise in these fields and has executed wide range of conservation projects in the country and abroad. The Laboratory has all the infrastructure and advanced facilities available for undertaking conservation work.
How can NRLC come to your rescue?
NRLC plans to undertake field projects to create awareness for conservation and to support to museums and other institutions in their conservation work. The projects will be self- sustaining and will be guided by the NRLCââ¬â¢s team of experts. The NRLC will provide expertise and institutions will provide funds, which will be utilized to employ restoration and other staff on contractual basis and for purchase of chemicals/conservation materials required for the execution of the projects.
Who can approach and for what?
Central and State Govt. departments, museums, universities, art galleries and other related institutions can approach for
* imparting training to their staff
* designing and setting up their conservation laboratories
* for conservation of their cultural heritage
4 .rendering advice on preventive conservation
5. scientific research on materials of conservation
<img src='http://www.nrlccp.org/images/6%20Month%20Trainees-Working-4a.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
Foundations of Anthropology : India/Ajit K. Danda. 1995, 184 p., $16.
Contents: Preface. 1. Development of anthropology. 2. Palaeoanthropology. 3. Physical anthropology. 4. Social/cultural anthropology. 5. The integrated discipline. 6. Systematization of thoughts. 7. Future for anthropology. 8. Epilogue. Appendices: 1. Universities in India having courses in anthropology. 2. Research journals of anthropology published in India. 3. Contemporary trends of research commitments in palaeoanthropology. 4. Major excavated stone-ages sites in India. 5. Details of presidential addresses delivered at the anthropology section of the Indian science Congress association. 6. Contemporary trends of research commitments in physical anthropology. 7. List of institutes associated with state governments engaged in anthropological research. 8. Contemporary trends of research commitments in social/cultural anthropology. Bibliography. Subject index. Author index.
"Accounts on history of development of anthropology are few. Proportionately fewer are those that have been attempted by the scholars from India, even during the post-independence decades. Despite the fact that a few among them referred to the traditional literatures of India that had important anthropological bearings, they never found mention in the syllabus of anthropology followed by any of the universities over hear. As a result, anthropology remains an uneasy transplant, not to be able to reflect Indian society and culture in their true perspectives. The omission, as it appears, is not as much by any option as it is due to certain inherent compulsions. Why such compulsions and what are their roots? Foundations of Anthropology : India discusses in some detail how despite decolonisation, scholars in India failed to respond appropriately to the spirit of emancipation." (jacket)
[Ajit K. Danda served as Director, Anthropological Survey of India during 1984-1990. His books include Weaker Sections in Indian Villages and Rural Community in Transition.]
08-10-2006, 03:03 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-10-2006, 03:04 AM by acharya.)
http://www.ajei.org/downloads/ajcss/1998/a...logyinIndia.pdf
http://www.bagchee.com/BookDisplay.aspx?Bkid=B22181
Anthropology in the Making: The Indian Experience
B. Joardar
<img src='http://www.bagchee.com/big/B22181.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
History of Indian anthropology was never given due importance by our anthropologies. It neither formed a part of the teaching curriculum nor a subject of research. Vidyarthi first reviewed in detail the developments after the introduction of anthropology as an academic discipline in an Indian University in 1920.
Although some scholars made brief attempts, no one has discussed the pre-1920 history in detail. The author in this book has endeavoured to present the entire history of the pre-disciplinary era of Indian anthropology tracing it back to the Vedic period so that a complete picture of the rise of anthropology in India may emerge. He has discussed in a separate chapter, the life and works of some of the pioneers of Indian anthropology to familiarize the present generation of anthropologists with their contribution. In the present volume, besides ethnography, caste studies, village studies and folklore, for the first time in India development of criminal anthropology, biological anthropology, ethnological museums and foundation of anthropological society in India has been discussed.
<span style='color:red'>
In the early days of teaching of anthropology in India, Vedas, Upanishads, Samhitas, Puranas and other ancient Indian texts formed a part of the curriculum.
Later the study of these ancient Indian texts was discontinued and the subject became heavily dependent on the âOxbridge traditionâ. After 1960 the influence of American anthropology specially that of the âChicago-Comell schoolâ prevailed over the British school. Thus our anthropologists were never free from western influence and consequently Indian anthropology lacked a distinct identity. </span>
Strongly advocating indigenisation of foreign concepts the author in this volume has made some concrete suggestions towards the establishment of an Indian school of anthropology. In the concluding chapter the author has classified the development of Indian anthropology into different phases in an attempt to present the history of anthropology in India in a systematic chronological order.
Foreword
Preface
Proem
1. Tribal Ethnography
2. Caste Studies
3. Village Studies
4. Folklore
5. Criminal Anthropology
6. Biological Anthropology
7. Ethnological Museums
8. Foundation of an Anthropological Society
9. Foundation of Anthropology as an Academic Discipline
10. Some Indian Pioneers in Indian Anthropology
11. In Search of a Father of Anthropology
12. Some Important Milestones in the Development of Anthropology in India
Concluding Observations
References Cited
Index
B. Joardar
Dr. Biswanath Joardar was awarded Ph.D in Anthropology in 1978 by the University if Calcutta. He has done intensive field work among the jute mill labourers, prostitutes in West Bengal, scavengers in Karnataka, weavers in Kashmir Valley, fisher-folk in Diu and tribals in the Indo-Bhutan and Indo-Tibet Border. He is the author of several books. The notable among them are: Prostitution in Historical and Modern Perspectives; Prostitution: A Bibliographical Synthesis; and Prostitution in Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Calcutta. He has served as Guest Faculty at the Indian Institute of Public Administration; National Institute of Urban Affairs; National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science; National Institute of Social Defence. He has also served as National Consultant off Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), United Nations in connection with Vitamin âAâ Project.
During 1992-1997 he was Deputy Director in the Department of Urban Poverty Alleviation, Ministry of Urban Poverty Alleviation, Ministry of Urban Affairs and Employment, Government of India. âIt is primarily for his contribution the UNICEF component of Urban Poverty Alleviation Programme took roots in the country.â
He has served as member of selection committee for Junior Faculty and Senior Faculty Positions at thee Administrative Training Institute, Government of Karnataka; State Training Institute of Government of Tamil Nadu; Punjab Institute of Public Administration; State Urban Development Agency, Government of Punjab; National Institute of Urban Affairs; Community Health Nutrition Research and Training Centre of the Institute of Home Economics, New Delhi. He is the recipient of Human Rights Millennium Award.
Dr Arjun Appadurai record and link with "you know who gang" is visible everywhere.
<img src='http://www.hobotraveler.com/ma_mapscountries/india.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
What is Anthropology
About cultural, forensic, physical, social, medical, applied, biological, linguistic, religion, definition, articles, study, current, economic, history, internship, biblical, race, psychological, define, book, education, evolutionary, genetic, terms, urban, culture, development, food, political, Christian, ecological, medical, museum, association, courses about Anthropology
nstitutes Offering Courses in Anthropology, India & International
ANTHROPOLOGY
Post Graduation
University of Hyderbad-500046
Visva-Bharati, P.O. Santiniketan-731235
University of Calcutta, Calcutta-700073 (MSc)
University of Allahabad, Allahabad-211002 (MA and MSc.)
Andhra University, Vishakhapatnam-530003 (MA/MSc.)
Berhampur University, Berhampur-760007 (MA/MSc.)
University of Rajasthan, Jaipur-302004
Punjabi University, Patiala-147002
Graduation with Anthropology as a subject:
1. University of Delhi, Delhi-110007 (B.Sc.and M.Sc.)
2. Utkal University, Bhubaneshwar-751004 (MA too)
3. Ranchi University, Ranchi-834001(MA too)
4. University of Mysore, Mysore-570005 (MA too)
5. Manipur University, Imphal-795003 (B.Sc. and MSc.too)
6. Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati-517502 (MA too in Social Anthro) and B.Sc/M.Sc. Phy. (Anthropology)
7. Pune University, Pune-411007 (MA too)
8. Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur- 492010
9. Panjab University, Chandigarh-160014
10. North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon-425002
11. North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong-793022 (MA too)
12. Nagarjuna University, Nagarjuna Nagar-522510
13. Vinoba Bhave University, Hazaribagh 825301 (MA too)
14. University of Mumbai, Mumbai-400001
15. Sambalpur University, Sambalpur-768019 (B.Sc. and M.Sc.)
16. Andhra University, Vishakhapatnam-530003
17. Bangalore University, Bangalore-560056
18. University of Calcutta, Calcutta-700073 (BA and B.Sc.)
19. Siddhu Kanhu University, Dumka-814101
International Perspective:
USA
The American Anthropological Association, 4350, N. Fairfax Dr., SUite640
Arlington, VA 22203.
Social Anthropology Programme
Henry Barnard
Dr Henry Barnard
Head of School
School of People, Environment and Planning
Qualifications
Graduate of Victoria University, University of London and Massey University
Email: H.Barnard@massey.ac.nz
Phone: +64(0) 6 350 5114 (DDI)
Room: SST8.18
Research interests:
Social Theory and Methodology
Social Anthropology - India & NZ
Material Culture
Hierarchical Societies
Ecological Anthropology
Henry Barnard is a graduate of Victoria University of Wellington (NZ), the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) and Massey University. He has carried out fieldwork in India at two sites, a central Indian village and an ashram in North India, and also in New Zealand. He took up an appointment at Massey University in 1982. He is the general editor of the journal SITES.
He is interested in social theory and methodology, the social anthropology of India and New Zealand, social suffering in hierarchical societies, ritual, ecological anthropology and the study of what is called material culture. He has published theoretical work about the theories of the French social anthropologist Pierre Bourdieu and the British social anthropologist Victor Turner, methodological work on data and information systems in New Zealand, and substantive studies on class culture.
He has taught undergraduate courses in introductory social anthropology, ethnography, the anthropology of India, kinship and marriage, anthropological theory, and social suffering. He has also taught graduate courses in anthropological theory and the anthropology of cultural consumption. He is particularly committed to teaching in the `extramural modeâ having developed and taught a number of courses at the first, second and third year levels. He has participated in the development of the extramural postgraduate courses.
http://www.gyanbooks.com/anthropology-books-india.asp
ANTHROPOLOGY
POST GRADUATE DEGREE STANDARD
PAPER - I
SECTION I : FOUNDATIONS OF ANTHROPOLOGY(COMPULSORY)
UNIT I
ANTHROPOLOGY AND IT'S BRANCHES
Meaning and scope of Anthropology - Major divisions of Anthropology - Socio - cultural Anthropology - Physical or Biological Anthropology, Linguistic Anthropology and applied Anthropology. Inter-relationships of various branches of Anthropology - The Anthropology and its relations with other social, Biological and Medical sciences.
UNIT II
BASIC CONCEPTS OF SOCIETY AND CULTURE
Society ,culture and civilization; community, groups, band, tribe, institutions, Associations, Folkways and Mores, Norms and values, customs and traditions, status and Role, Enthnography, Ethnology, caste class and Race.
UNIT III
MARRIAGE FAMILY AND KINSHIP
Definition of Marriage, problems in Universal definition of Marriage - Marriage Regulations Exogamy and Endogamy - Types of Marriages - Proferential and prescribed forms of marriage - Functions of Marriage - ways of Acquiring Mates , in Indian tribes, Marriage payments - Divorce - Marriage, patterns in Hindu, Muslims and Christians ; problem in the Universal definition of family - Basis of Human family - structure, organization, and functions of family - stability and changes in Indian family, Hindu joint family system and it's transition; kinship - Definition of kinship - system, it's place in social structure. Analysis of kinship. Terminology - types of kinship systems, Rules of Decent, Decent groups, kinship usages, and determinants of kinship terminologies.
UNIT IV
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
Principles of social stratification, class and caste system in India - Idea of Rank and status in tribal societies.
UNIT V
ECONOMIC ANTHROPOLOGY
Meaning, scope and Relevance of Economic Anthropology; Principles governing production, distribution and consumption in communities subsisting on Hunting and gathering, Fishing, Pastoralism, Horticulture and Agriculture. Modes of exchange, barter, ceremonial exchange, reciprocity, and redistribution, market and trade in tribal communities.
UNIT VI
POLITICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Meaning and scope - power and Legitamacy - differences between state and stateless societies. Social control, Law and Justice in Primitive societies
UNIT VII
RELIGION
Definition and function of Religion - Theories of origin of Religion - Religion and it's forms - Animism, Animatism, Totemism, Naturalism - Religious Functionaries, Religion, Magic and Science - Totem and Taboo and their ritual significance - Religion and world view - Religion, Economy and political system
UNIT VIII
MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Meaning and scope of Medical Anthropology -Ethno medicine - socio - cultural factors influencing food nutrition, health and hygiene. Concept of disease and treatment in traditional societies - Health and disease problems in primitive societies.
UNIT IX
DEVELOPMENTAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Anthropological development in planning - concepts of sustainable development, displacement and Rehabilitation - Role of Anthropology in National integration - Management of food, water resources, Environment, population dynamics with special reference to Tamilnadu.
UNIT X
REBEACH METHODS AND FIELD WORK TECHNIQUES/BASIC STATISTICS
Field tradition in Anthropology - observation , case study, interview, questionnaire and schedule, Genealogical method, Visual Anthropology, Life histories and personal documents, Basic statistics; graphical representation of data. Mean mode and median-standard deviation, standard Error - chi-square and t-test, Analysis of variance - correlation, sampling methods.
UNIT XI
EMERGENCE OF MAN
A) BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION
1) Ramapithocus
2) Australopithecenes
3) Homoerectus
4) Neanderthalas
5) Modern man.
B)CULTURAL EVOLUTION
Broad outlines of pre-historic cultures (India and Europe)
1) Paleolithic
2) Mesolithic
3) Neolithic
4) Chalcolithic
5) Iron age
6) Gelogical time scale
7) The great Ice age
8)
A brief account of stone tool Typology and Technology and methods of problems of dating.
SUBJECT :
ELECTIVE COURSE IN PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
SECTION-II:
(A) PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
UNIT I
ORGANIC EVOLUTION
Process and Principles of Evolution - Convergence, divergence, parallelism, adaptive Radiation, speciation, and irreversibility; Theories of Evolution - Lamarckism and Neo-Lamarckism, Darwinism and Neo-Darwinism, synthetic theory and Natural selection in man, Bio-cultural Evolution in man.
UNIT II
PRIMATES
Distribution, classification and characteristics of primates - position of man in the animal kingdom - morphological and Anatomical characteristics of Apes and man; Erect posture and Bipedalism; primate social behavior.
UNIT III
HUMAN EVOLUTION
Phylogenetic status, distribution and characteristics of the following:-
1) Ramapithecus
2) Australopithecines
3) Home erectus
4) Neanderthals
5) Modern man Theories of Human Evolution.
UNIT IV
CONCEPTS IN GENETICS
Scope and branches, development of human genetics, cell structure, Mitosis Meiosis, Mendel's laws of inheritance, patterns of inheritance, multiple alleles, sex linkage and crossing over, lethal genes - mutation - methods of studying heredity, population genetics - Hardy -weinberg's law: Definition and Application: Breading population - mating patterns - Random, Assertative and inbreeding - inbreeding coefficient - and Genetic load. Natural selection; Genetic polymorphism concept, balanced and transient.
UNIT V
HUMAN BIOCHEMICAL VARIATION
Blood groups: ABO,RH,MN,HLA system - Blood groups and diseases; Red cell enzymes; G6PD, LDH, MDH, serum proteins; Haptoglobin and Transfernins; Hemoglobin Normal and Abnormal; - Hbs and malaria (invorn errors of) metabolism - phenylketenuria, Alkaptonuria and galactosemia.
UNIT VI
HUMAN CYTOGENETICS
Chromosome structure, chromosal polymorphism, Chromosomal abberation, structural and numerical; Translocations. Human genetics and society - Genetic counselling - Screening and genetic engineering.
UNIT VII
RACE
Concept of Race, definiton, classification, racial criteria and distribution, major Racial groups of the world and their characteristics. UNESCO Statement - Race relations.
UNIT VIII
HUMAN GROWTH
Human growth and development, stages of growth and their characteristics. Factors affecting the growth. Growth variation in world populations.
UNIT IX
PHYSIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Age and sex variation in physiological characteristics: Hb level, body fat, pulse rate blood pressure, Respiratory functions - sense perception in Populations. Effect of smoking, Air pollution, occupational hazards on cadio - respiratory functions. Human adaptations to different Ecological conditions. Hot, cold and High attitude.
UNIT X
APPLIED PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOG
a) Anthropometry and its uses
b) Forensic Anthropology
c) DNA Technology and the prevention of genetic diseases.
SECTION II:
(B) THEORIES OF CULTURE AND SOCIAL TRUCTURE
Concepts of culture Theories of culture and social structure Concepts and Theories of social and culture change Approaches to the study of culture and society
a) Classical evolution
b) Neo-evolutionism and cultural ecology.
c) Historical particularism and diffusionism
d) Functionalism
e) Structural-functionalism
f) Structuralism
g) Culture and personality
h) Transactionalism
I)
Symbolism, Cognitive approach and new-ethnography Ethnicity, cultural relativism and cultural particularism Role of field work in the development of anthropological theory. Contributions of Anthropology to gender studies Role of Anthropology in Future studies.
PAPER-II
INDIAN ANTHROPOLOGY
1. India as a socio-cultural entity
2.Evolution of the Indian culture and civilizatioin:
Prehistoric(Paleolithic, mesolithic and Neolithic) Protohistoric (Indus civilization) Vedic and post Vedic beginnings. Contributions of tribal cultures
3. Domographic profile of India:
Ethnic and linguistic elements in the Indian population and their distribuion. Indian population, its structure, growth and factors influencing. A critical evalution of the Indian population policy with focus on Tamil Nadu Population.
4. The basis of the Indian social system:
Varna, ashrama, purushartha, karma, rina and rebirth, joint family and the caste system.
5. Impact of Buddhism, Jainism, Islam and Christianity on Indian society.
6. Growth of anothropology in India:
Contributions of the 19th century and early 20th century scholar administrators;contribution of Indian anthropoligists to tribal and caste studies; concept used in the study of Indian society and culture: Little traditions and Great traditions, universalization and parochialisation, sanskritisation and westernization, village studies,tribe-caste continum,dominante caste, nataure-man-spirit complex, sacred complex.
7.
(a) Tribal situation in India:
Biogenetic variability, Linguistic and socio- economic characteristics of the tribal population and their distributions. Racial classification in India.
(b) Problems of the tribal communities:
Land alientation, poverty, indebtedness, low literacy, poor educational facilities unemployment, under employment, health, nutrition; developmental policies and tribal displacement and problems of rehabilitation; development of forest policy and tribals. Impact of unbanisaction and industrialization on tribal and rural population.
© Tribal situation in Tamil Nadu - communities, distribution, and problems.
(d) Ethnographic profiles of the Teda, kotas and kurumbas of nilgiris, the malayalis, Irulas, paliyans and paniyans and kadars of Tamil Nadu.
8. History of administraion of tribal areas, tribal policies,plans, programmes of tribal development and their implementation. Role of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO'S) in Tamil Nadu.
9. Consitutional safeguards for scheduled tribes and scheduled castes, social change and contemprorary trible societies: impact of modern democratic institutional development programmes and welfare measures on tribals. Most Backward Classes, Backward Classes and Weaker sections: emergence of ethnicity and tribal movements.
10. Role of antropology in tribal, rural and urban development, contributions of antropology to the under standing of regionalism, communalism etho-political movements and national integration.
Note : Candidate may opt either II(a) or II (b) . Section - II(a) Physical Anthropology Section II(b) - Theories of Culture and Social Structure.
http://www.manoharbooks.com/search.asp?sea...bj=Anthropology
http://web.pdx.edu/~b5mg/asiasyll.html
PEOPLES AND CULTURES OF SOUTH ASIA
Dr. Michele Gamburd
Office: 141-N Cramer Hall
Phone: (503) 725-3317
gamburdm@pdx.edu
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This upper-level introduction to South Asia will focus on three main topics: the nature of the caste system in India, the position of women in society, and the roles of religion, language, territory and identity in fueling violence in various areas of the subcontinent. Lecture and discussion will emphasize issues of competing claims to authority in these areas: the question of who gets to define the nation, the family, caste, Hinduism, and so forth. Students will not only learn about the history and ethnography of the region, but will also gain an understanding of theoretical debates in anthropology through a critical evaluation of the modes of representation used by social scientists and others to describe cultural structures and practices in South Asia.
REQUIRED READINGS:
* Daniel, E. Valentine (1996) Charred Lullabies: Chapters in an Anthropology of Violence. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
* Dumont, Louis. 1980 (1966). Homo Hierarchicus: The Caste System and its Implications. Complete Revised English Edition. Mark Sainsbury, Louis Dumont, and Basia Gulati, trans. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
<span style='color:red'>* Kakar, Sudhir (1996) The Colors of Violence: Cultural Identities, Religion, and Conflict. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1996.
* Marriott, McKim ed. (1990) India Through Hindu Categories. New York: Sage.
* Pandey, Gyandendra ed. (1993). Hindus and Others: The Question of Identity in India Today. Delhi: Viking Penguin.
* Trawick, Margaret. (1990) Notes on Love in a Tamil Family. Berkeley: University of California Press.
* Roy, Beth. 1994. Some trouble with cows : making sense of social conflict. Berkeley : University of California Press.
</span>
Anthropology's Nicholas Dirks Provides Historical Context for Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children in Humanities Festival Lecture
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/03/03/ni...Dirks.html
By Kristin Sterling
Salman Rushdie's award winning novel "Midnight's Children" begins with the confession that the narrator, Saleem Sinai, was born in Bombay, not just once upon a time, as many fables would have it, but at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the moment of India's independence from British imperial rule. The date is significant to millions because it represents the end of nearly 200 years of British oppression on the Indian subcontinent.
In one of the opening events for the Midnight's Children Humanities Festival, a series of public dialogues and discussions to give context to the play and celebrate the marriage of arts and ideas that the production exemplifies, Nicholas Dirks, Franz Boas Professor of Anthropology and History and chair of the anthropology department, offered historical background for "Midnight's Children." He addressed the atrocities of British imperial rule that ultimately led to the independence of India and the creation of Pakistan. Knowing the complicated history of India's struggle for independence helps to offer insight into the way Saleem views the world around him.
Britain's interest in India began in the 1600s when the East Indian Company established trading stations in Surat, Bombay and Calcutta, using the colony to import spices, silk and cotton and to export textiles. By 1757, the British empire in India began.
In response, a tide of nationalism began to rise in the 19th century and a series of protests ensued. After the Great Rebellion of 1857, Queen Victoria issued a proclamation permitting religious toleration and ceasing further annexation.
In 1919, a group of Indians staged the biggest and most violent anti-British protest since the Great Rebellion. Protests were sparked by the combination of post-World War I grievances, growing nationalist sentiment, a developing belief that Mahatma Gandhi could provide leadership and reactions to brutal repression imposed by the British, especially in the Punjab.
On April 11, 1919, General Reginald Dyer, the lieutenant governor of Punjab, declared martial law. Two days later, a peaceful, unarmed crowd of villagers gathered, unaware of the ban on meetings. Dyer's troops opened fire on the crowd, resulting in 1,500 casualties, many of them women and children. This incident propelled the nationalist movement in India, while the British hailed Dyer as a hero for defending Britain's imperialism in the East.
Despite the tremendous use of force against his followers, Gandhi continued to promote the non-violent, non-cooperation movement and began to recruit Muslim support. Over the next year, Gandhi organized a series of strikes throughout the country. Britain responded with more repression. In November 1921, Britain outlawed all voluntary organizations, imposed restrictions on the press and imprisoned 30,000 Indians.
When an outbreak of peasant violence occurred in February 1922, killing 23 policemen, Gandhi called the effort off, fearing that his followers were not ready for the final stages of a movement that depended on peace as a means to an end.
Gandhi reorganized in 1942 to start the Quit India revolt, a non-violent campaign of mass struggle and resistance. The strategy soon took the form of guerilla warfare -- 500 post offices, 250 railway stations and 150 police stations were destroyed or damaged, trains were derailed and courts were attacked. British police and troops responded by taking hostages, imposing fines, setting villages on fire and staging public whippings. "Colonial panic" set in and by the end of the year, nearly 100,000 Indians had been arrested.
The combination of nationalist mobilization, exhaustion and depletion from World War II finally brought the British to consider "quitting" the continent. In June 1945, the British convened the Simla Conference, in the foothills of the Himalayas, to consider post-colonial development of India. Although everyone present agreed that there needed to be parity between Hindus and Muslims, the conference broke down without resolution.
Under pressure from more strikes, in 1946 the British government allowed an interim, independent "Indian" government to be established. Though there was still no formal talk of partition, the British proposed a loose confederation with three parts, of which two were Muslim-controlled.
On August 16, 1946, violence broke out between the Hindus and Muslims with unprecedented communal riots in Calcutta, Bombay and Noakhali. With the growing violence, the British began to plan their departure, setting June 30, 1948, as the date for withdrawal from India.
In early March 1947 the Muslim League brought down the Coalition government in Punjab and renewed its claim to form the government in the province that was seen as the cornerstone of the Pakistan proposal. In June 1947 it was decided that Pakistan would split off from India. Officials were given one month to draw the borders between India and Pakistan and the rush to independence became the rush toward partition, according to Dirks.
As hundreds of thousands were on the move to return "home," the violence again increased. Nearly a million people were killed and five million fled their homes. Borders closed and early beliefs of freedom of movement and joint citizenship were abandoned.
Had the British been prepared to work toward a "transfer of power" before the combination of World War II and overwhelming nationalist resistance brought them to their knees, Dirks said that they may not only have avoided the tragedies associated with partition, but have been able to play a very different role in the transition.
"Instead, the end turned as nasty as the beginning -- with all its corruption, scandal, violence and disruption -- had been 200 years before," said Dirks. These problems, Dirks added, are carried by Saleem throughout "Midnight's Children," burdening him with "the weight of too much history."
"Saleem confessed in retrospect that history's multiple determinations and accidents led to failures not just of the imagination but of the dream of freedom itself. In some ways all midnight's children were fathered and mothered by history," said Dirks.
08-10-2006, 04:13 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-10-2006, 04:17 AM by acharya.)
The Oxford India Companion to Sociology and Social Anthropology (Hardcover)
by Veena Das (Editor), Andre Beteille (Editor), T. N. Madan (Editor)
Oxford University Press. As New. Contents: Vol. I. Preface. Social sciences and the publics/Veena Das. I. The overarching concepts and contexts: Introduction. 1. Sociology and social anthropology/Andre Beteille. 2. Modernization/Satish Deshpande. 3. The historiography of Indian society/Richard Saumarez-Smith. 4. Civil society/J.P.S. Uberoi. II. The ecological context of social life: Introduction. 1. Ecology and environment/Rita Brara. 2. India's population : its growth and key characteristics/Pravin and Leela Visaria. 3. Movements of peoples : Nomads in India/Aparna Rao and Michael J. Casimir. 4. Migration/Myron Weiner. 5. Refugees/Tetsuya Nakatani. 6. The social and cultural framework of health and disease in India/Paul Greenough. 7. Social and cultural geography/James L. Wescoat Jr, Richa Nagar and David Faust. III. Morphological categories: Introduction. 1. Tribes in India/ Virginius Xaxa. 2. Village community/Brij Raj Chauhan. 3. The Indian city/ Narayani Gupta. 4. Caste/Christopher J. Fuller. 5. Social stratification hierarchy, difference, and social mobility/Dipankar Gupta. 6. Social conflict/Satish Saberwal and N. Jayaram. IV. The cultural landscape: Introduction. 1. The category of folk/Roma Chatterji. 2. Performances/ Heidrun Bruckner and Elizabeth Schombucher. 3. The image in Indian culture/Christopher Pinney. 4. Public culture/Arjun Appadurai. 5. Consumption and lifestyle/Nita Kumar. 6. Social aspects of language/Udaya Narayana Singh. V. Religions: Introduction. 1. Religions of India : plurality and pluralism/T.N. Madan. 2. Sects and Indian religions/Lawrence A. Babb. 3. . ISBN: 0195645820.
About the Book : "The Oxford India Companion To Sociology and Social Anthropology" is a comprehensive reference work that brings together sixty eminent scholars from around the world to provide important thematic and conceptual elements in the study of Sociology and Social Anthropology. This invaluable resource is one of the most informed, complete, and important reference to sociology and social anthropology, and its related fields available today.
Consolidating several fields of study, the Companion constitutes the ideal basis for course and research use for students and specialists alike in sociology, anthropology, history, economics, labour studies, demography, politics, and cultural studies. It will also be an invaluable reference to activists, policy-makers, journalists, and the informed lay-reader.
<b>
COMPREHENSIVE AND AUTHORITATIVE COVERAGE :
(1) THE OVERARCHING CONCEPTS AND CONTEXTS : Introduction; Sociology and Social Anthropology; Modernization; The Historiography of Indian Society; Civil Society;
(2) THE ECOLOGICAL CONTEXT OF SOCIAL LIFE : Introduction; Ecology and Environment; India's Population : Its Growth and Key Characteristics; Movements of Peoples : Nomads in India; Migration; Refugees; The Social and Cultural Framework of Health and Disease in India; Social and Cultural Geography;
(3) MORPHOLOGICAL CATEGORIES : Introduction; Tribes in India; Village Community; The Indian City; Caste; Social Stratification: Hierarchy, Difference, and Social Mobility; Social Conflict;
(4) THE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE : Introduction; The Category of Folk; Performances; The Image in Indian Culture; Public Culture; Consumption and Lifestyle; Social Aspects of Language;
(5) RELIGIONS : Introduction; Religions of India: Plurality and Pluralism; Sects and Indian Religions; Myth: Text and Context; Religion in Everyday Life; Christianity in the Context of Indian Society and Culture; Secularism;
(6) EDUCATION, KNOWLEDGE, AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT : Introduction; The Paradox of Child Labour and Anthropology; Old Age and the Global Economy of Knowledge; Patterns of Literacy and Their Social Context; Schooling, Culture, and Modernity; Higher Education;
(7) THE PERSONAL SPHERE AND ITS ARTICULATION : Introduction; The Family in India: Beyond the Nuclear versus Joint Debate; Patterns of Marriage; Domestic Violence; The Peron Beyond the Family; The Cultural Construction of Emotion;
(8) ECONOMIC ARRANGEMENTS : Introduction; Agrarian Structures and Their Transformations; Labour and Traded Unions; Labour, Technology, and Industry; The Informal Sector; The Study of Entrepreneurship in India: In Need of a Comparative Perspective; Markets; Decentralization and the Poor;
(9) POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS AND PROCESSES : Introduction; The Significance of Lower Courts in the Judicial Process; The Indian Nation-State: From Pre-colonial Beginnings to Post-colonial Reconstructions; The Nature of Indian Democracy; Backward Castes / Classes as Legal and Political Entities; Local-level / Grassroots Political Studies; Social Movements; Collective Violence.</b>
"This two volume set will become, I predict, one of the most influential and widely cited sources of comparative studies in the social sciences as well as being a major contribution to South Asian studies", Arthur Kleinman, Prof. of Anthropology, Harvard University.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_classi...ndian_Americans
http://anthropology.suite101.com/
Anthropology
© Gerda Wever-Rabehl
Gerda Wever-Rabehl - Credit: Robert Kwong
In this forum, we will engage in a conversation about us! We will talk about human beings in all their variety.
We will go beyond archeological, biological, socio-cultural and linguistic anthropology- the conventional topics of anthropology- to talk about the human experience.
In this conversation, we will explore contemporary as well as historical, theoretical as well as practical problems. We will try to do justice to the diversity of the human experience by touching on a wide variety of aspects of this experience, from myths to evolution, to genetics, to desire, technology, gender gaps to name just a few.
Anthropology
The civil services are the most prestigious of all careers in India. Continuing with our special series, Subhas Chakraborty tells you how to approach the exam
Since the syllabus on anthropology has several segments, it is necessary to read at least some basic books on each specific segment.
Let me suggest some basic reading:
Indrani Basu Roy, Anthropology: The Study of People;
Stein Rowe, Physical Anthropology;
B. M. Das, Outlines of Physical Anthropology;
R.M. Sarkar, Fundamentals of Physical Anthropology;
Miller & Weitz, Introduction to Anthropology;
L.P.Vidyarthi, Applied Anthropology in India;
Vidyarthi & Rai, Tribal Culture in India; Majumdar & Madan, An Introduction to Social Anthropology;
M.N.Srinivas, Social Structure and Caste & Other Essays;
NCERT text-book on Indian society; reports of the SC/ST and Social Welfare Departments of the Government of India.
One must remember that for the second paper, in particular, conceptual clarity is essential to score well.
Public administration
Public administration is another popular choice. It is largely non-technical and can be offered by students of both science and humanities/social science streams. Another attraction of this subject is the common ground it shares with many other subjects like commerce, psychology, management, sociology and economics. The section on Indian administration, planning and public expenditure will help in the preparation of the general studies paper as well.
Both the papers have two sections. The first paper deals with administrative theory. The first section addresses meaning, scope and significance of public administration, theories of administration, structure of public organisations, administrative behaviour, accountability and control and administrative law.
Kipling, Kim, and Anthropology
This page last revised 18 May 1998
All quotations from Rudyard Kipling's Kim, Ware: Wordsworth Editions Ltd, 1993.
It is widely recognised that the relatively recent sciences of anthropology and ethnology have often seemed in thrall to, and supportive of, the colonial project. Supposedly objective in outlook, anthropological discourse has often been employed to validate and justify theories of race, hierarchy, and power. So-called factual knowledge becomes a means through which racial stereotyping can be bolstered or created. The ethos of Western rationalism allied with the discourse of pseudo-science in Orientalism and Indology creates a body of knowledge which can be used as leverage in the acquisition ,or, retention of power. Such theories, however flawed, become essential ingredients in the process of defining the Other, inevitably a process which measures itself against definitions of the Self. Nineteenth-century anthropological investigations in India proclaimed a body of supposedly verifiable truths about the land and its people. In the process of formulating what or how the Indian people are, ideas of individual agency are stripped from them. Ronald Inden writes that essentialist ways of seeing tend to ignore the "intricacies of agency" pertinent to the flux and development of any social system (Imagining India. Oxford: Blackwell, 1990.p20).
Rudyard Kipling's Kim exemplifies this in a variety of ways. Kim reveals a genuine love and sympathy for India but remains a jingoistic product of its time and place. Benita Parry points out that the history of Kipling criticism mirrors the history of attitudes to the imperial encounter itself (Delusions And Discoveries: Studies on India in the British Imagination. London: Penguin, 1972. p205). Several of the characters in Kim illustrate the underlying links between imperialism and anthropology, even as Kipling himself seems to be engaging on a similar project. The encounter between the lama and the museum curator at Lahore is the first instance of this type of relationship in Kim. It is surely anomalous for the white curator to have the authority of knowledge in this meeting . The lama is meant to be a venerated Tibetan sage, and yet the curator presumes to educate him through "the labours of European scholars, who...have identified the Holy places of Buddhism"(p7). By cataloguing, labelling, and classifying Indian ritual and practice the curator has somehow acquired a body of knowledge which renders the lama helpless "as a child" (p7). Time and again in Kim it will be seen how Western knowledge is used to appropriate autonomy and agency from the Indian people.
Colonel Creighton is the last of Kim's surrogate fathers and, as a member of the Ethnological Survey and a government spy, it is he who facilitates Kim's assumption of place in his patriarchal heritage. It is Creighton's "fluent and picturesque Urdu" (p101) which convinces Kim of his merit and authority. The act of surveillance is closely allied to imperial control, however, Kipling masks this awareness from the reader by the use of euphemism, double talk and code. Creighton's seemingly obscure gathering of knowledge represents considerably more than a disinterested desire to gain entry to the Royal Society. Using terms such as "Great Game" creates a conceptual distance from the realities of government and colonial administration. Threats to the Indian nation come from Russians, French, and five kings "who had no business to confederate"(p18). The colonial view is taken as the world view in Kipling's tale. Characterising Colonel Creighton as manly, rational and scientific diminishes the paternal potential of the lama who appears increasingly passive, dependent, and feminized in accordance with Eastern stereotypes. Within the scheme of the novel Kim must relinquish his Indian loyalties in order to become a part of the imperial endeavour.
Although he is designated the "little friend of all the world" (p2) Kim reiterates racist theories about the inherent irrationality and disorder of the Indian psyche. Kim's value to Creighton, and therefore to imperialism, lies in his ability to 'pass' as a native. However, his sahibhood is stressed from the outset --" though he consorted on terms of perfect equality with the small boys of the bazar; Kim was white"(p1) and Kipling will not let the reader to lose sight of this core fact. Kim proves his racial superiority by his strength of resistance to Eastern mesmerism aided by the recitation of his multiplication tables. Mathematical rationality is more than a match for the mystical forces of the Orient! Kim repeatedly exploits his relationships with Indians but, far from questioning his motives, they prove to be complicit in the abstraction of the Great Game. Political realities of the era are ignored in favour of an implied 'natural' relationship between Sahib, Pathan, Tibetan, and Bengali.
Just as the museum curator patronised the lama, Kim itself has been viewed as a realistic representation of India. It acts as another example of how colonial powers judge themselves best qualified to represent the colonised nation to itself and others. Kipling's vision of "happy Asiatic disorder"(p56) on the Grand Trunk Road has often been read as indicative of the 'real' India instead of a nostalgic evocation of a much loved childhood. Blurring distinctions between caste and class, Kipling also manages to blur distinctions between the colonisers and the colonised. In many respects Kim has tended to function as an anthropological text as it cultivated popular opinion of India and the colonial experience. While the modern reader can recognise the ideology behind Kipling's reductive maxims it is important to appreciate the links between rational sciences and the core project of imperialism.
INTELLECTUALS
Bernard S. Cohn, 1928-2003: Scholar, Democrat, Mentor, and Friend
A Biographical Note, by Vinay Lal
A. K. Ramanujan, 1929-1993
Bernard S. Cohn, 1928-2003
Bernard S. Cohn and Indian History in the American Academy
Bernard S. Cohn, who passed away at the age of 75 on 25 November 2003 in his sleep at his home in Hyde Park, Chicago, was the greatest American scholar of colonial India of his generation, as well as one of the central figures in the debates animating the disciplines of history and anthropology in the second half of the twentieth century in the American academy. To his many students, friends, and even acquaintances, Barney (as he was known to his friends) was far more than a superb scholar, a caring mentor, and a figure of endless intellectual curiosity. He was a man of extraordinary wit, capable of both utter seriousness and hilarious irreverence, and above all he was a radical democrat who cared very little for marks of distinction, the pervasive hierarchies of the academic world, or the allurements of academic stardom. Thankfully, Barney rose to prominence before the star system, which has seduced real and alleged academic heavyweights into acting as little better than baseball players, traded to the most expensive or elite universities but with salaries that are little more than pocket money to star baseball or basketball players, had become fully established. After a short stint at the University of Rochester, Barney returned in 1964 to the University of Chicago, where he had spent a little time in the 1950s, and he remained there until his retirement in 1995. Barney held visiting appointments at the University of Virginia, University of Michigan, Australian National University, New York University, and the California Institute of Technology, but the University of Chicago was always his real home, and it is there that he guided nearly two generations of historians and anthropologists, many among them now occupants of key positions at leading American research universities.
Barney Cohn was born in Brooklyn on 13 May 1928, a little too late to be enlisted into the war effort against the Nazis and the Japanese, and it is there that he attended public schools. He earned his bachelorâs degree at the University of Wisconsin in 1949; the doctorate in anthropology, from Cornell University, followed in 1954. Barney did his fieldwork in the Jaunpur district of eastern Uttar Pradesh, but many who came to know him later, such as the author of this piece, never heard Barney speak any Hindi, except, much like the colonial masters whom he was to study with such thoroughness, a few words of command or of prodding intent! âChaloâ, Barney would say. Barney served in the US army from 1954 to 1956, and short stints at Chicago, Rochester, and SOAS, as well as archival work in Britain and India in the late 1950s over something like a period of two years, preceded his permanent return to the University of Chicago in 1964. His period in India included some months in the Uttar Pradesh State Archives in Allahabad. It is, at any rate, to this second half of the 1950s that we owe a number of his essays (some published in the early 1960s) which, almost fifty years later, still appear fresh and are inescapably part of the reading that students of British India must do. âThe Changing Traditions of a Low Casteâ (1958), âThe Pasts of an Indian Villageâ (1961), âFrom Indian Status to British Contractâ (1961), âAn Anthropologist among the Historians: A Field Studyâ (1962), âThe British in Benares: A Nineteenth Century Colonial Societyâ (1962), and âPolitical Systems in Eighteenth-Century India: The Benares Regionâ (1962) readily come to mind. At Chicago Barney came to join what was then the most distinguished group of American scholars working on India, among them the anthropologists Robert Redfield and Milton Singer and the scholar of Bengali literature, Edward Dimock, as well as younger scholars such as A. K. Ramanujan who would soon go on to earn Chicago a reputation as the preeminent center of Indian studies in the United States.
There are already some assessments of Barney Cohnâs work, notably Ranajit Guhaâs introduction to the huge collection of his essays, An Anthropologist among the Historians (Delhi: Oxford UP, 1987), and a very short companion essay on his work, âBernard S. Cohn and Indian History in the American Academyâ, appears on this site. Consequently, it is unnecessary to enter into a protracted discussion of his work at this juncture: Suffice to say: as has been remarked by more than one scholar, Barney initiated nearly every major development in the American academyâs engagement with colonial Indian history and society, and similarly Barney was among the very first scholars to bring some of anthropologyâs concerns to bear upon the historianâs tendency to mark secular change. In his classic essay of 1980, âHistory and Anthropology: The State of Playâ, he put forth, inimitably, the two models of âAnthropologyâ and âHistorylandâ. There he spoke, as well, of the new conquests of history and anthropology, of new historylands and anthropologylands. Colonialism, one might say, was never far from his mind. It is also entirely characteristic of Barney that he never spoke of the only book he wrote as such, India: The Social Anthropology of a Civilization (Prentice-Hall, 1971; reprint, with an introduction by Gyan Prakash, Delhi: Oxford UP, 1998?). He was, as he told me in the mid-1980s, not ready to stand by his book some years after it had been written. With his essays, Barney transformed entire fields; it is just as well that he did not write any books.
Barneyâs playfulness, often on display in his scholarly writings, was almost always present in his interactions with students, colleagues, and others in the academy, and it is with some personal reflections that I wish to conclude this short biographical note. Though the somewhat mysterious illness that first afflicted him in the early 1990s had clearly caused some short term memory loss, Barney was long before that the embodiment of the cliched representation of the absent-minded professor. As one stood outside his office door on the third floor of Haskell Hall, he would twirl a bunch of keys around his finger and, often, try most of them before he would find the right one to unlock the door. <b>Indian kids in America have gone on to monopolize -- well, almost -- the national spelling bee, but years of study of Indian society and history did not rub off on Barney at all if one is to judge him by his atrocious sense of spelling! But Barney had such an enduring sense of humor, and so strong was his radical commitment to fully democratic relationships, that one never felt uneasy or little around him. Who else but Barney could have dedicated his book on India (1971) thus: âTo My Parents: Maybe It Was Not All For the Birds.â</b>
As those who were close to Barney know only too well, he had a monumental interest in monuments, statues, and public memorials. There were many monument-hunting trips that we took together in Chicago, London, and Delhi. I recall a summer day in 1989 when Barney and I arrived together at the then India Office Library on Blackfriars Road. A sign on the doors informed visitors, "The Library is closed. There is no hot water." Barney looked at me and said, "Have we come here to take a hot shower?" We had, in any case, a wonderful afternoon at St. Paul's. We were supremely grateful that the IOL retained its third world inefficiency: on another morning that same year, the IOL was closed on account of some asbestos that had, so to speak, sprung loose. We were off on another monument-hunting trip.
Other memories of Barney are just as striking. On my first visit back to Chicago after leaving in 1992, our conversation over lunch veered towards the subject of the fall of the Soviet Union. With his usual candor, Barney remarked that many American political scientists, who made their living and killing from denouncing the 'evil empire', now had little reason to remain in the profession. If, as he told me, they had an iota of decency they would tender their resignation. On their last visit to Los Angeles some four years ago, Barney and his wife Rella, to whom he was married for over 50 years, graced our house with their presence. Our daughter was a little shy of two years. Barney grinned and said, "She probably thinks I'm a dinosaur." Over dinner, Barney launched into a withering critique of American social science and the immense pretensions of economics, and one would not have known that at this juncture, somewhere around the fall of 2000, he could no longer read or write. Nonetheless, his appetite for conversation, discussion, and argument remained as keen as it had been when I first met him in 1984. I am certain that Barney would have been sickened but not surprised by what is presently transpiring in Iraq. Looking at the looting of art and antiquities in Iraq under American eyes after the fall of Baghdad in the spring of 2003, Barney, whose work on the British in India still remains exemplary, would have been the first to understand the urge that drives colonizers and conquerors to begin with a clean slate. For scholars of colonial India, however, there can no longer be any clean slate, as the name of Bernard S. Cohn is inextricably etched on every historical meditation on colonial India.
New paper on tribes and lower castes
Not a very good paper but has some interesting stuff.
|
