The Study Of Folk Traditions Provides A Critical Look At The Accepted, Largely High Caste Male-Authored Views Of Hinduism And Society In India.

Traditional Storytelling Today explores the diversity of contemporary storytelling traditions and provides a forum for in-depth discussion of interesting facets of comtemporary storytelling. Never before has such a wealth of information about storytelling traditions been gathered together. Storytelling is alive and well throughout the world as the approximately 100 articles by more than 90 authors make clear. Most of the essays average 2,000 words and discuss a typical storytelling event, give a brief sample text, and provide theory from the folklorist. A comprehensive index is provided. Bibliographies afford the reader easy access to additional resources.

This is a collection of articles by established scholars in the fields of History, Philosophy, Literature and Religious Studies. These are original essays which address the issues and concerns that now dominate the study of religion in its multiple dimensions with a fresh approach. They critique settled opinions and raise new and engaging questions concerning cultural hermeneutics and the academic study of religion. Embellished with a substantive and topical introduction by the editor, this collection of articles will be of abiding interest to scholars and interested lay persons alike.

This collection of essays explores the meanings of marriage in South Asian Hindu culture. Through the perspective of gender, it describes local practices, attitudes, ritual symbols and religious sensibilities as they impact on religion, gender and social life in the Hindu world.

First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

In this volume, sixty-eight of the world's leading authorities explore and describe the wide range of musics of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Kashmir, Nepal and Afghanistan. Important information about history, religion, dance, theater, the visual arts and philosophy as well as their relationship to music is highlighted in seventy-six in-depth articles.

With 600 signed, alphabetically organized articles covering the entirety of folklore in South Asia, this new resource includes countries and regions, ethnic groups, religious concepts and practices, artistic genres, holidays and traditions, and many other concepts. A preface introduces the material, while a comprehensive index, cross-references, and black and white illustrations round out the work. The focus on south Asia includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, with short survey articles on Tibet, Bhutan, Sikkim, and various diaspora communities. This unique reference will be invaluable for collections serving students, scholars, and the general public.

This book presents a comprehensive socio-cultural history of crafts and crafts persons in pre-colonial Eastern India. It focuses on the technology of crafts as being integral to the traditional lives of the crafts persons and explores their cultural and social world. It offers an in-depth analysis of the complexities of craft technologies in the three sectors of cotton textile, sericulture and silk textile and mining and metallurgy in the regions of Bihar and Jharkhand in Eastern India in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Apart from technology, the book discusses a range of socio-economic themes including craft production systems; marketing and financing patterns; impact of contact with the world market; craft persons’ identities in terms of caste affiliations and group divisions; negotiations for upward caste mobility; contestations and dissent of lower castes; power and social stratification; functioning of caste panchayats; gender division of craft labour; myths, beliefs and religiosity attributed to craft usages; social and ritual traditions; and contemporary craft traditions. Rich in archival and diverse sources, including oral traditions, paintings, and findings from extensive field visits and interactions with crafts persons, this book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of crafts, medieval Indian history, social history, sociology and social anthropology, economic history, cultural history, science and technology studies, and South Asian studies. It will also interest government and non-governmental organisations, textile historians, craft and design specialists, contemporary craft industrial sector, and museums.

Publisher description: The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas, Volume II: Mesoamerica (Part One), gives a comprehensive and authoritative overview of all the important native civilizations of the Mesoamerican area, beginning with archaeological discussions of paleoindian, archaic and preclassic societies and continuing to the present. Fully illustrated and engagingly written, the book is divided into sections that discuss the native cultures of Mesoamerica before and after their first contact with the Europeans. The various chapters balance theoretical points of view as they trace the cultural history and evolutionary development of such groups as the Olmec, the Maya, the Aztec, the Zapotec, and the Tarascan. The chapters covering the prehistory of Mesoamerica offer explanations for the rise and fall of the Classic Maya, the Olmec, and the Aztec, giving multiple interpretations of debated topics, such as the nature of Olmec culture. Through specific discussions of the native peoples of the different regions of Mexico, the chapters on the period since the arrival of the Europeans address the themes of contact, exchange, transfer, survivals, continuities, resistance, and the emergence of modern nationalism and the nation-state.

The essays in this volume, based on forty years of research in Karimpur in western Uttar Pradesh, study the impact of increased rural prosperity, gains in education, and urban influences on the lives of women in rural north India. The initial chapters examine the changes in the economic system and demographic patterns in the village over the last 70 years, which show significant improvement in the economic condition of the people, child mortality and life expectancy, and education. While these changes imply greater mobility, decision-making powers and increasing ages of marriage for some women, others have been adversely affected, facing the double burden of poverty and caste discrimination due to the discontinuation of the jajmani (patron-client) system and the breaking up of joint families. A later essay focuses on the growing disparity in the female-to-male ratio, an issue of vital concern in India. Frequent interactions with the urban community has led to better awareness of biomedicine and improved general health, but it has also opened up new challenges as families shift from female infanticide to female foeticide The remaining chapters describe the day-to-day realities of women's lives in a patriarchal rural community-rituals, family dealings, marriage and widowhood. But they also present hitherto overlooked or little known information such as the common practice of remarriage of widows of lower castes, or widows of higher caste actively participating in village politics. The last two chapters highlight the impact of modern lifestyles including fashion and clothes on young women in rural India, providing them the raw materials to forge new identities and traditions.