Susan Wadley first visited Karimpur--the village "behind mud walls" made famous by William and Charlotte Wiser--as a graduate student in 1967. She returned often, adding hears of changes in agriculture, labor relations, education, and the family. But Karimpur's residents do not speak with one voice in describing the ways their lives have changed--viewpoints vary considerably depending on the speaker's gender, economic status, and caste. Using cultural documents such as songs and stories, as well as data on household budgets and farming practices, Wadley examines what it means to be poor or rich, female or male. She demonstrates that the forms of subordination prescribed for women are paralleled by those prescribed for lower castes.

Susan Wadley first visited Karimpur—the village "behind mud walls" made famous by William and Charlotte Wiser—as a graduate student in 1967. She returned often, adding her observations and experiences to the Wisers' field notes from the 1920s and 1930s. In this long-awaited book, Wadley gives us a work of unprecedented scope: a portrait of an Indian village as it has changed over a sixty-year period. She hears of changes in agriculture, labor relations, education, and the family. But Karimpur's residents do not speak with one voice in describing the ways their lives have changed—viewpoints vary considerably depending on the speaker's gender, economic status, and caste. Using cultural documents such as songs and stories, as well as data on household budgets and farming practices, Wadley examines what it means to be poor or rich, female or male. She demonstrates that the forms of subordination prescribed for women are paralleled by those prescribed for lower castes. Villagers also speak of political struggles in India, and of the importance of religion when confronting change. Their stories, songs, and life histories reveal the rich fabric of Karimpur and show how much can be learned from listening to its people.

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

Since the last decade of twentieth century, India has strived for an experienced and unprecedented economic turn-around. The country has witnessed a structural shift in GDP growth, propelled largely by new investments and the growth of the value enhancing services sector. Globally, these efforts are not only source of appreciation but also of assumption for many that India increasingly being seen as part of new axis of influence in the world. Long established three-headed social problem—poverty–illiteracy–unemployment—remains the biggest stumbling block for a post-colonial country like India. New sets of problems have taken shape in the last quarter of twentieth century when policy makers and market participants have prioritized economic activities for short-term gains. In context of the above, Center of Associates for Sociological Studies and Action undertook to bring out to the fore oft-neglected inter-disciplinary discussions and analysis in fifteen articles to examine the process of globalization in India taking insights from economics, political science and international relations, sociology, cultural anthropology, social ecology, management and cultural studies. It discusses the impact of the process of globalization on social institutions like marriage, family, economy, politics, education and religion. The book is intended for postgraduate students and research scholars. It provides readers with a clear perspective about creating economics, environmental and social capital that can produce multiplier effect for making national progress more inclusive and sustainable.

This book makes use of interesting case studies and photographs to describe everyday life in a squatter settlement in Delhi. The book helps to understand the marital experiences of these people most of whom belong to the Scheduled Caste and live in one identified geographical space. The author describes the shifts within their marriages, remarriages and other kinds of unions and their striking diversities, which have been described with care. Shalini Grover also examines the close ties of married women with their mothers and natal families. An important contribution of the book lies in the unfolding of the role of women-led informal courts, Mahila Panchayats and their influence in conflict resolution. This takes place in a distinctly different mode of community-based arbitration against the backdrop of mainstream legal structures and male-dominated caste associations. The book will be of interest to students of sociology and social anthropology, gender studies, development studies, law and psychology. Activists and family counsellors will also find the book useful.

The essays in this volume seek to introduce a level of theoretical analysis by means of close readings of situations in which women are given or denied authority in ritual and interpretive contexts. This approach encompasses not only how women are represented, but also particular strategies of debate about women, how women are depicted as negotiating certain kinds of authority; and how women might resist traditional authority in specific colonial and post colonial situations.

Asian Popular Culture in Transition examines contemporary consumption practices in South Korea, China, India, and Japan, and both updates and extends popular culture studies of the region. Through an interdisciplinary lens, this collection of essays explores how recent advances and shifts in information technologies and globalization have impacted cultural markets, fashion, the digital generation, mobile culture, femininity, matrimonial advertising, and a film actress’ image and performance. Drawing upon a diverse range of sources and methods including historical research, content analysis, anthropological observation, textual analyses, and interviews, Asian Popular Culture in Transition makes a significant contribution to this growing area of research. Given its broad range of countries, theories, and approaches, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of Asian studies, cultural studies, media and communication studies, and gender studies.

Moveable Gardens explores how biodiversity and food can counter the alienation caused by displacement. By offering in-depth studies on a variety of regions, this volume carefully considers various forms of sanctuary making within communities, and seeks to address how carrying seeds, plants, and other traveling companions is an ongoing response to the grave conditions of displacement in today’s world. The destruction of homelands, fragmentation of habitats, and post-capitalist conditions of modernity are countered by thoughtful remembrance of tradition and the migration of seeds, which are embodied in gardening, cooking, and community building. Moveable Gardens highlights itineraries and sanctuaries in an era of massive dislocation, addressing concerns about finding comforting and familiar refuges in the Anthropocene. The worlds of marginalized individuals who live in impoverished rural communities, many Indigenous peoples, and refugees are constantly under threat of fracturing. Yet, in every case, there is resilience and regeneration as these individuals re-create their worlds through the foods, traditions, and plants they carry with them into their new realities. This volume offers a new understanding of the performances and routines of sociality in the face of daunting market forces and perilous climate transformations. These traditions sustained our ancestors, and they may suffice to secure a more meaningful, diverse future. By delving into the nature of nostalgia, burrowing into memory and knowledge, and embracing the specific wonders of each deeply rooted or newly displaced community, endlessly valuable ways of being and understanding can be preserved. Contributors: Guntra A. Aistara, Aida Curtis, Terese V. Gagnon, John Hartigan Jr., Tracey Heatherington, Taylor Hosmer, Hayden S. Kantor, Melanie Narciso, Virginia D. Nazarea, Emily F. Ramsey, Krishnendu Ray, David Sutton, James R. Veteto, Marc N. Williams

Ethnography familiarizes readers with ethnographic research and writing traditions through detailed discussions of ethnography's history, exploratory design, representational conventions, and standards of evaluation. Responding to the proliferation of ethnography both within and outside of academia, in this book, Anthony Kwame Harrison grounds ethnographic practices within the anthropological principles of cultural awareness, thick description, and embodied understanding. At the same time, the book introduces new frameworks for grasping ethnography's simultaneous strategic and improvisational imperatives, as well as for appreciating its experimental conventions of social science and humanistic research reporting. Central to this process, Ethnography introduces the concept of ethnographic comportment-defined as an historically informed politics of position that impacts ethnographers' conduct and disposition-which serves as a standard for gauging and engaging ethnography throughout the text. Part research primer, writing guide, and assessment handbook, Ethnography provides readers with a comprehensive introduction to one of the richest and most expansive traditions of qualitative research.

A discussion of the implications of the emergence of love-letter correspondences for social relations in Nepal