“An Introduction to Changing India” provides a comprehensive view of the rapid changes occurring in India, particularly in the fields of culture, politics, economics and technology, population, environmental issues and gender. Having carried out anthropological research on kinship, gender issues, politics, class and caste, population issues and the appropriation of information technology in India since the 1990s, the authors draw from their own fieldwork and extensive reading of research reports in order to provide a comprehensive picture of Indian life.

Can Indian civilization be compared to a thousand-branched tree? What have been its outstanding achievements and its impact on the world? These are some of the questions this book asks. But it also deals with issues confronting more and more Indians caught in an identity crisis: What does it mean to be Indian? What is specific to the worldview developed by Indian culture? How has it dialogued with other cultures? Is it built on durable foundations, or is it little more than colourful religiosity and quaint but outdated customs? And what are the meaning and application of secularism and tolerance in the Indian context? The French-born author, who has been living in India for 33 years, argues that Indian culture is not some exotic relic of the past, but a dynamic force that still has a role to play in defining India's identity and cohesion, and in proposing solutions to today's global challenges. Written in a crisp and engaging style, this thought-provoking volume challenges received ideas on India's culture and invites us to think afresh. Can Indian civilization be compared to a thousand-branched tree? What have been its outstanding achievements and its impact on the world? These are some of the questions this book asks. But it also deals with issues confronting more and more Indians caught in an identity crisis: What does it mean to be Indian? What is specific to the worldview developed by Indian culture? How has it dialogued with other cultures? Is it built on durable foundations, or is it little more than colourful religiosity and quaint but outdated customs? And what are the meaning and application of secularism and tolerance in the Indian context? The French-born author, who has been living in India for 33 years, argues that Indian culture is not some exotic relic of the past, but a dynamic force that still has a role to play in defining India's identity and cohesion, and in proposing solutions to today's global challenges. Written in a crisp and engaging style, this thought-provoking volume challenges received ideas on India's culture and invites us to think afresh. -- Provided by publisher.

This book studies the different dimensions of culture change in India. It covers important strands of the ancient and modern intellectual traditions of India and the socio-cultural changes that the country underwent during the colonial, post-independence modernization, and globalization periods in the country. In this context, the authors examine some of the major aspects of culture change observed at the institutional level across the country. They also touch upon cultural diversity and multiculturalism in India and Europe, as well as the dilemmas faced by diasporic Indians in North America. Lucid and topical, this book will be an essential read for students and scholars of sociology, sociology of culture, history, political science, cultural anthropology, Indian sociology, social anthropology, cultural studies, and South Asian studies.

Changes in cultural styles through exposure to global cultural patterns.

This book explores India’s rich popular culture and provides illuminating insights into various aspects of the social, cultural, economic and political realities of contemporary globalised India. It is essential reading for courses on Indian popular culture and a useful resource for more general courses in the field of cultural studies, media studies, history, literary studies and communication studies.

First published in 1965, The Culture and Civilisation of Ancient India in Historical Outline is a strikingly original work, the first real cultural history of India. The main features of the Indian character are traced back into remote antiquity as the natural outgrowth of historical process. Did the change from food gathering and the pastoral life to agriculture make new religions necessary? Why did the Indian cities vanish with hardly a trace and leave no memory? Who were the Aryans – if any? Why should Buddhism, Jainism, and so many other sects of the same type come into being at one time and in the same region? How could Buddhism spread over so large a part of Asia while dying out completely in the land of its origin? What caused the rise and collapse of the Magadhan empire; was the Gupta empire fundamentally different from its great predecessor, or just one more ‘oriental despotism’? These are some of the many questions handled with great insight, yet in the simplest terms, in this stimulating work. This book will be of interest to students of history, sociology, archaeology, anthropology, cultural studies, South Asian studies and ethnic studies.

India is the only country outside the Mediterranean with a continuous Christian connection since apostolic times. However, the subject of Christianity as one of the oldest agencies of culture change in the country had remained a neglected field of study by anthropologists and other social scientists till the late fifties. In the present book, Dr. K.N. Sahay, well-known for his pioneering studies on the Christianization process in India,presents a composite picture of the genesis and development of Christian movements on local,state and all-India levels; sociok-cultural transformations among the tribal and Hindu converts of Bihar; interdenokminational interactions among the Roman Catholics and Protestants; transformations viewed in a theoretical perspective; charitable and welfare work of Christian Missionaries and significant recent trends of change visible among Indian Christians, The study is based on extensive field work and is considerably informative and the author's assessment objective, factual and balanced. This book would be useful not only to the anthropologists but historian and other social scientists in general, Christian Missionaries and thelaity, philanthropists, planners,those connected with welfare programmes and the enlightened laymen.

Image-Making-India explores the evolving meaning of images in a digital landscape from the vantage point of contemporary India. Building upon long-term ethnographic research among image-makers in Delhi, Mumbai and other Indian cities, the author interrogates the dialogue between visual culture, technology and changing notions of political participation. The book explores selected artistic experiences in documentary and fiction film, photography, contemporary art and digital curation that have in common a desire to engage with images as tools for social intervention. These experiences reveal images’ capacity not only to narrate and represent but also to perform, do and affect. Particular attention is devoted to the 'digital', a critical landscape that offers an opportunity to re-examine the significance of images and visual culture in a rapidly changing India. This volume will be of particular interest to scholars of visual and digital anthropology and cultures as well as South Asian studies.