Culture, Gender and Inequality: Narratives from a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group in Odisha, India

2021 ◽  
pp. 002190962110598
Author(s):  
Bhubaneswar Sabar
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Tribal Societies ◽  
Social Ostracism ◽  
Customary Laws ◽  
Cultural Entity ◽  
Analytical Category ◽  
Gender Asymmetry

This ethnographic paper explores gender inequality in tribal societies vis-à-vis customary practices and challenges the notion of egalitarianism of tribal society by taking Chuktia Bhunjia tribe of Odisha, India as an analytical category. In the light of a discussion on women specific taboos and restrictions, captured through formal interview, narrative and lived experience approach, the paper explicates the deeply embedded nature of the taboos in Chuktia Bhunjia society and unravels how prohibiting women from socio-economic and religious space, backed by purity-pollution philosophy, perpetuate the gender inequality among them. It was found that although economic division of labour is indistinct; women are perceived being portrayal of misfortunes during perceived pollution periods and are prohibited to enter into sacred places – kitchen room, cowshed, sacred groves and forest – and take part in community festivals and other auspicious occasions. The existing material culture, especially kitchen room, alongside economic structure, self-notion of ‘outsiders’ and apparently fixed customary laws have direct influence on the position of women in this society. It is found that the customary laws are not mere symbolic expressions in perpetuating the gender asymmetry, but have become a powerful tool to patriarchal controls not only over women’s education, health, properties and knowledge, but also over individual’s choice, freedom, decision-making and sexuality. However, internal challenges are reported against customary laws and taboos, the fear of social ostracism, the obligation to restore the purity of cultural entity and anxiety reinforce people to be always submissive to those practices. Therefore, unless there is transformation alongside their culture, it is fruitless to think of gender equality.

The Changing Perception of the Five Senses

2020 ◽  
pp. 103-122
Author(s):  
Sara Benninga
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
17Th Century ◽  
Scientific Instruments ◽  
Peter Paul Rubens ◽  
Courtly Culture ◽  
Southern Netherlands ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Five Senses ◽  
The Senses

This article examines the changing approach towards the representation of the senses in 17th-century Flemish painting. These changes are related to the cultural politics and courtly culture of the Spanish sovereigns of the Southern Netherlands, the Archdukes Albert and Isabella. The 1617–18 painting-series of the Five Senses by Jan Brueghel the Elder and Peter Paul Rubens as well as the pendant paintings on the subject are analyzed in relation to the iconography of the five senses, and in regard to Flemish genre themes. In this context, the excess of objects, paintings, scientific instruments, animals, and plants in the Five Senses are read as an expansion of the iconography of the senses as well as a reference to the courtly material culture of the Archdukes. Framing the senses as part of a cultural web of artifacts, Brueghel and Rubens refer both to elite lived experience and traditional iconography. The article examines the continuity between the iconography of the senses from 1600 onwards, as developed by Georg Pencz, Frans Floris, and Maerten de Vos, and the representation of the senses in the series. In addition, the article shows how certain elements in the paintings are influenced by genre paintings of the courtly company and collector’s cabinet, by Frans Francken, Lucas van Valckenborch and Louis de Caullery. Through the synthesis of these two traditions the subject of the five senses is reinvented in a courtly context

The Culture of Travel in Edo-Period Japan

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Goree
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Travel Literature ◽  
Publishing Industry ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
17Th Century ◽  
Japanese Culture ◽  
Edo Period ◽  
The Road ◽  
Woodblock Printing

The expansion of travel transformed Japanese culture during the Edo period (1603–1867). After well over a century of political turmoil, unprecedented stability under Tokugawa rule established the conditions for men and women from all levels of the hierarchical society to travel safely for purposes as varied as the cultural consequences of a country increasingly on the move. Starting in the first half of the 17th century, institutionalized forms of compulsory travel for the highest-ranking samurai and a limited number of elite foreigners made for conspicuous political spectacle and prompted the Tokugawa shogunate to develop and maintain an extensive system of roads, post-towns, checkpoints, and sea routes. Prompted by the economic prosperity of the Genroku era (1688–1704) in the late 17th century, an ever-growing portion of the population, including commoners from cities and villages, took advantage of newfound leisure to embark on journeys for pilgrimage, medical treatment, and sightseeing. This change was accompanied by the expansion of tourism, which grew into a sophisticated commercial enterprise in the 18th century. Poets, writers, painters, performers, and scholars took to the road throughout the Edo period for artistic and intellectual pursuits, often as teachers or students, generating and spreading culture where they went. With an astonishing output of travel literature, guidebooks, maps, and woodblock prints featuring landscapes, a thriving commercial publishing industry, which first blossomed in the Genroku era, used woodblock printing technology to popularize travel in increasingly diverse ways. Together with such influential forms of print, the things that people wore, packed, bought, enjoyed, and rode while traveling formed a rich body of material culture that reveals the lived experience of travel for the duration of Tokugawa rule.

Anthropology of Food

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Kenji Tierney ◽  
Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Basic Element ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Important Indicator ◽  
The People ◽  
Group Identities ◽  
Anthropology Of Food

Food is an important indicator of social differentiation, which defines the boundaries between social groups, and social hierarchy, which entails class, status, and power inequality. Because food is a basic element of material culture and social life, it has occupied a central place in the discipline of anthropology from its earliest days. Anthropologists view food and foodways as tools with which to understand individual cultures and societies, especially when they are situated in the context of global and historical flows and connections. Ethnography, the methodology used by anthropologists and by some other social scientists, relies on a holistic and empathetic approach based on lived experience among the people being studied. Anthropologists have long been interested in commensality as both a source and an expression of group identities. Another way to probe sociality is to analyze gifts and manners.

Egypt in Roman Visual and Material Culture

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlín Eilís Barrett
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Art History ◽  
Visual Representations ◽  
Review Article ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Intercultural Exchange ◽  
Material Turn

This review article addresses current controversies and opportunities in research on the roles, uses, and meanings of “Egypt” in ancient Roman visual and material culture. Accordingly, the article investigates problems of definition and interpretation; provides a critical review of current scholarly approaches; and analyzes the field’s intersections with current intellectual developments in the broader fields of archaeology and art history. It is argued that research on Roman Aegyptiaca can gain much from, and is poised to contribute substantially to, (1) 21st-century archaeology’s “material turn”; (2) the construction of new interpretive frameworks for cross-cultural interactions and “hybridization”; and (3) increased attention to the relationships among artifacts, contexts, and assemblages. Roman visual representations of Egypt provide a rich testing ground for research on intercultural exchange, the lived experience of empire, and the complex entanglement of people, things, and images.

Modes of indigenous modernity

Thesis Eleven ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 145 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor Hogan ◽  
Priti Singh
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Visual Arts ◽  
Film Studies ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Political Autonomy ◽  
Business Studies ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Political Struggles ◽  
Customary Laws ◽  
Regional Associations

This special issue is the outcome of a collaborative venture – a three-day workshop between La Trobe University and Ateneo de Manila University, held in Manila. It brought together indigenous and non-indigenous researchers from both the Philippines and Australia and included aboriginal researchers in business studies, history, literature and anthropology, and non-indigenous researchers working on themes of indigenous history, material culture, film studies, literature, the visual arts, law and linguistics. The ‘indigenous’ peoples of the Philippines are very different to Australian Aborigines or Torres Strait Islanders. Nevertheless, they have common quests for political autonomy, protection of indigenous customary laws, traditions and knowledge, biodiversity, and development of independent self-governance structures for health, education and community development. These concerns involve analogous and overlapping political struggles with nation-states and in the forums of the UN, regional associations, global consortia, and the international courts. The papers in this issue are based on a roundtable in which the participants showcased their own research projects and interests on indigenous pathways, cultural pluralism and national identities; socio-economic development; and representation of indigenous identities in creative and visual arts.

scholarly journals Bringing Our Boy Home: the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, Its Visitors, and Contemporary War Remembrance in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Gareth Phipps
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
State Involvement ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Personal Connections ◽  
Individual Memory ◽  
Survey Interviews ◽  
The Impact

<p>In November 2004 the remains of an unknown New Zealand soldier from the First World War were brought home from France and placed in the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior (TUW) outside the National War Memorial (NWM) in Wellington. This was one of the largest ceremonial events ever held in New Zealand, and the entire programme was broadcast live on national television. An estimated 100,000 people lined the streets of Wellington to watch his casket make its way from Parliament to its final resting place. Why did the return of the Unknown Warrior, some 90 years after his death, have such an impact on the country, and what is the significance of the TUW for visitors today? The aim of this dissertation is to bring together the material culture of war commemoration with aspects of public memory and meaning-making in an examination of visitor interpretations of the TUW. To achieve this, entries left in the NWM visitor books and onsite survey interviews are analysed in the light of the institutional objectives set out in the design and planning of the TUW, and the political and popular motivations that led to its construction. The view advanced by this dissertation is that visitors draw on individual memory, civil remembrance and national commemoration to construct meanings of the TUW. Their interpretations draw on lived experience and personal connections to form connections with the TUW. These are influenced by the impact of 'grassroots' interest in war remembrance, soldier ancestors and an understanding of the experience of war, public ritual and state involvement in commemoration. This provides a snapshot of contemporary war remembrance in New Zealand.</p>

scholarly journals GENDER DIVISION OF LABOUR AND POLYGAMY

ALQALAM ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 229
Author(s):  
Siti Aisyah
Keyword(s):  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
Marriage Law ◽  
Head Of Household ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The One ◽  
Clear Statement ◽  
Gender Division Of Labour ◽  
Do So

The Indonesian patriarchal culture and gender inequality is reflected in state policies, regulations and laws. As a pluralistic country comprising of different ethnic groups with specific cultures and traditions, Indonesia has four formal religions: Islam, Christianity, Hindu and Buddhism. Because of this, Indonesian law reflects cultural and religious diversity, including customary law or Adat law, the Marriage Law of 1974 as well as civil and criminal law. Two serious concerns of Marriage Law of 1974 are in relation to gender division of labour and polygamy which undermine Indonesian Muslim women. This paper discusses such an issue to allow women to get equaliry before the law and highlights its contribution to domestic violence.There are two contradictory stipulations with respect to the Marriage Law of 1974: equality in marriage and gender division of labour within marriage. On the one  hand, Article 31 (1) and Article 3 3 clearly state that there is no difference between husband and wife with respect to their basic rights such as love; respect, or fidelity. On the other hand, both of these Articles are contradicted with other articles which  differentiate between a husband's and wife's responsibilities. For example, Article 31 (3) and Article 34 stipulate a clear division between the roles of husbands and wives within marriage. This has become a reference point for Indonesian views in determining gender relations in marriage.Marriage Law of 1974 still which supports gender division of labour between wife and husband should be revised by providing a clear statement that these roles are conditional. This means that husbands can be domestic carers including taking care of children if they have no jobs, while wives can be finacial providers or the head of household if they are capable to do so. In this context, gender roles can be exchanged and are not strictly for a certain gender.  

Fashioning culture: Transforming perspectives from Oceania

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-24
Author(s):  
Kalissa Alexeyeff ◽  
Geir Henning Presterudstuen
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
World Economy ◽  
Introductory Article ◽  
Clothing Style ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Anthropological Research ◽  
Analytical Category ◽  
Embodied Practice ◽  
The Relationship

In this introductory article we discuss what might be gained from examining more familiar areas of anthropological research such as cloth, dress or material culture through fashion as an analytical category and, in turn, how insights from Pacific clothing cultures can broaden understandings of fashion. Our aim is to unsettle the ethnographic gaze that is often brought to bear on non-western cultures of fashion, cloth, clothing, style and innovation. Fashion, as we conceive of it, spans from the physical production and design of garments and objects to everyday appearances, the desire to be ‘in vogue’ and the consumption of aesthetic objects that are considered popular. From this starting point we move analyses of fashion from the systemic to the experiential, reflecting ethnographic sensitivity to everyday embodied practice and the constant political and creative negotiation of values and norms that takes place in quotidian social relations. We situate these analyses in a region that is often perceived to be at the very edge of the world economy and invite further discussion about the relationship between fashion and the global flow of people, ideas and commodities.

Community and Identity in Material Culture

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Wynne-Jones
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
Eastern Africa ◽  
Historical Period ◽  
Entire Volume ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Colonial Histories ◽  
Cultural Entity ◽  
Over Time

The identification of a cultural grouping termed ‘Swahili’ has long rested on the ability to discern a commonality of material and social environment across an enormous region, aspects of which have been discussed in previous chapters. Clearly, the coast and offshore islands of eastern Africa have been interconnected to a significant degree throughout the precolonial period, in a similar way to that noted in colonial histories. One of the key data sources for that ongoing interaction is the record of historical linguistics, which has traced a spread of Swahili languages from a north-eastern homeland southwards along the coast and to the Comoro archipelago. This has not only offered a crucial challenge to models of external origins, but also serves as a guide to the ongoing interactions that have made dialects of Swahili mutually intelligible more than 1,000 years since their original divergence. This mobility and entanglement are also invoked as causation for the ‘community of material culture that remained relatively constant over 3,000 kilometres of archipelagic civilization’ (Prestholdt 1998: 8). Certainly for the historical period, sources suggest that cultural cohesiveness was maintained through regular coasting travel along the littoral (Sheriff 2010). This seems likely also to have been the case in the deeper past, which resulted in similarities along the coastline over the longer term. Horton and Middleton (2000: 5) discuss this in enduring terms: ‘[the Swahili] have comprised a single social and cultural entity, Swahili society, with its own unique civilization of which they are deeply proud and possessive.’ These patterns of commonality have to some extent been the subject of this entire volume, but this chapter specifically explores the route by which communities of material culture were produced and maintained. Clearly this is more than simply a case of proximity or contact. Through attention to the shifting geography of coastal connections over time, it also becomes clear that the situation encountered by the Portuguese and later Europeans on the coast, while indicative, was not necessarily representative of the coast through time.

scholarly journals Gender differences in intergenerational care in European welfare states

2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 298-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
KLAUS HABERKERN ◽  
TINA SCHMID ◽  
MARC SZYDLIK
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Functional Limitations ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Care Giving ◽  
Intergenerational Care ◽  
High Level

ABSTRACTElderly people with functional limitations are predominantly cared for by family members. Women – spouses and daughters – provide most of this care work. In principle, gender inequality in intergenerational care may have three causes: first, daughters and sons have different resources to provide care; second, daughters and sons respond differently to the same resources; third, welfare state programmes and cultural norms affect daughters and sons differently. In this paper, we address the empirical question whether these three assumed causes are in fact responsible for gender differences in intergenerational care. The empirical analyses, based on the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), reveal that parents in need are in fact more likely to receive care from daughters than from sons. Daughters are more responsive to the needs of their parents than sons and respond differently to the same resources. Gender inequality is highest in countries with a high level of intergenerational care, high public spending on old-age cash-benefits, a low provision of professional care services, high family obligation norms and a high level of gendered division of labour. Welfare state programmes reduce or increase gender inequality in intergenerational care by reducing or increasing the engagement of daughters in intergenerational care. In general, care-giving by sons is hardly influenced by social care policies.

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