Assessing Issues of Caste and Selfhood in Rural Society: Some Reflections

Social Change ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 004908572110406
Author(s):  
Devi Prasad ◽  
Anand Akundy
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
Rural Society ◽  
Uttar Pradesh ◽  
Caste System ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Rural India ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
Northern India ◽  
Research Article ◽  
History Narratives

Based on a field study of Tandawa village located in east Uttar Pradesh, the article examines the pattern of caste cohesion in a rural society and studies how divisions and hierarchy still surface and remain a reality. This ethnographic study shows that though many socio-cultural traditions are practiced in northern India, some are undergoing subtle changes. The younger generation, especially its leaders, the yuva neta, have been taking initiatives over the last two decades to bring about a change in thinking. This study examines these new changes and challenges, and also tries to explore how these yuva neta have taken some initiatives to resolve internal caste-based hierarchical divisions and social contradictions. Using interviews, oral history, narratives and participant observation techniques, an ethnographic account of a small village has been put together. The research article also revisits a few significant studies to understand the debate on the caste system and how deeply it is entrenched in the day-to-day life of rural India.

Organizational forgetting in local governments: a study from rural India

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Soumyabrato Bagchi ◽  
Bhaskar Chakrabarti
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Memory Loss ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Rural India ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Management Literature ◽  
Organizational Forgetting

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to develop a theory of organizational forgetting in the context of local governments from the paradigmatic lens of existing research orchestrated in management literature. The paper empirically explores how and why local governments forget and discusses the role of local politics in promoting memory loss in organizations.Design/methodology/approachThe authors do an ethnographic study in a Village Panchayat, the lowest tier of the local government in rural India, in West Bengal, a state in eastern India. Data are collected through participant observation and informal interviews.FindingsThe paper argues that the existing framework on modes of organizational forgetting developed in the management literature is not sufficient in understanding the types of knowledge loss that occur in local governments. It shows that as a consequence of “memory decay” and “failure to capture,” local governments involuntary lose past knowledge and critical sources of expertise. The study also acknowledges the role of politics in deliberately endorsing organizational forgetting in local governments to eliminate failure and ethical lapses of elected representatives.Originality/valueBy exploring the phenomenon of organizational forgetting in local governments in the context of grassroots politics, this paper contributes to the ongoing discussion of organizational forgetting in a hitherto understudied area of how, and under what circumstances, public organizations such as local governments undergo forgetting, unlearning or loss of knowledge.

Empowerment of Rural Women through SHGs: A Study in Telangana

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (36) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shankar Chatterjee
Keyword(s):  
Rural Women ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Poverty Line ◽  
Rural India ◽  
Group Approach ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Self Help ◽  
Rural Livelihood ◽  
The Family ◽  
Self Help Group

The self-help group (SHG) is a powerful instrument to empower economically backward women of rural India as the women members under the SHG not only can earn income but they feel empowered also. With the launching of Swarnajaynti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) by the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India from April 1999, subsequently rechristened as Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana–National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM) self-help group approach (SHG) has been given utmost importance in India for the development of rural women mainly focusing on below poverty line households. SHG concept is popular in many rural areas of India as through economic development and subsequently empowering, rural women have got a solid platform. This research article has discussed the how rural women after forming SHGs in Ranga Reddy district (R.R. District) of Telangana were not only earning and contributing to the family but felt empowered also. The study was carried out at Gandipet village of Gandipet Mandal, Ranga Reddy (R.R.) district in September 2017. The some women members of 10 different SHGs were contacted and few individual cases are presented here.

Young Muslim America

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muna Ali
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Cultural Citizenship ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Muslim American ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Community Culture ◽  
Identity Studies ◽  
Anthropology Of Islam ◽  
Dominant Narratives

This book explores the identities, perspectives, and roles of the second and subsequent generations of Muslim Americans of both immigrant and convert backgrounds. As these younger Muslims come of age, and as distant as they are from historical processes that shaped their parents’ generations, how do they view themselves and each other? What role do they play in the current chapter of Islam in a post-9/11 America? Will they be able to cross intra-community divides and play a pivotal role in shaping their community? Culture figures prominently in the discussions about and among Muslims and is centered on four dominant narratives: 1) culture is thought to be the underlying cause of an alleged “identity crisis,” 2) it presumably contaminates a “pure/true” Islam, 3) it is the cause for all that divides Muslim American immigrants and converts, which could be remedied by creating an American Muslim community and culture, and 4) some Americans fear an “Islamization of America” through a Muslim cultural takeover. In this ethnographic study, Muna Ali explores these questions through these four dominant narratives, which are both part of the public discourse and themes that emerged from interviews, a survey, social and traditional media, and participant observation. Situating these questions and narratives in identity studies in a pluralistic yet racialized society, as well as in the anthropology of Islam and in the process and meaning of cultural citizenship, Ali examines how younger Muslims see themselves and their community, how they negotiate fault lines of ethnicity, race, class, gender, and religious interpretation within their communities, and how their faith informs their daily lives and how they envision a future for themselves in post-911 America.

Mass fainting in garment factories in Cambodia

2017 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurice Eisenbruch
Keyword(s):  
Health Workers ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Khmer Rouge ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Industrial Accidents ◽  
Factory Workers ◽  
Phnom Penh ◽  
Garment Factory ◽  
Garment Factories ◽  
Garment Factory Workers

This paper reports an ethnographic study of mass fainting among garment factory workers in Cambodia. Research was undertaken in 2010–2015 in 48 factories in Phnom Penh and 8 provinces. Data were collected in Khmer using nonprobability sampling. In participant observation with monks, factory managers, health workers, and affected women, cultural understandings were explored. One or more episodes of mass fainting occurred at 34 factories, of which 9 were triggered by spirit possession. Informants viewed the causes in the domains of ill-health/toxins and supernatural activities. These included “haunting” ghosts at factory sites in the wake of Khmer Rouge atrocities or recent fatal accidents and retaliating guardian spirits at sites violated by foreign owners. Prefigurative dreams, industrial accidents, or possession of a coworker heralded the episodes. Workers witnessing a coworker fainting felt afraid and fainted. When taken to clinics, some showed signs of continued spirit influence. Afterwards, monks performed ritual ceremonies to appease spirits, extinguish bonds with ghosts, and prevent recurrence. Decoded through its cultural motifs of fear and protest, contagion, forebodings, the bloody Khmer Rouge legacy, and trespass, mass fainting in Cambodia becomes less enigmatic.

scholarly journals Contingent authority and youth influence: When youth councils can wield influence in public institutions

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 537
Author(s):  
Angela Booker
Keyword(s):  
Public Participation ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Advisory Board ◽  
Sociology Of Education ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Youth Participation ◽  
Public Practice ◽  
State Education

<p class="RESUMENCURSIVA">Studies of youth public participation have dealt with varied conceptions of citizenship that emerge from literatures on human rights, civic engagement, youth development, and youth organizing and activism. Where those conceptions rely on developmental logics that limit or exclude youth participation, young people’s attempts to gain authority reveal concurrent ways they navigate these multiple conceptions of participation. Drawing on an 18-month ethnographic study, the analysis presented here focuses on a specific venue for youth participation: a student advisory board. Data includes participant observation, interviews, and artifacts including resolutions and emails. Twenty-one of 27 students, representing roughly 15 high schools in their school district, participated in the study. When students attended to paperwork like bylaws and the state education code, they gained access to contingent authority, a limited but influential form of Weberian authority. Key implications of the study indicate that while youth advisory councils can reliably produce exclusion on developmental grounds, they can also provide the parameters for establishing contingent authority. Paperwork is a key to accessing this form of bureaucratic authority, but exercising it requires sustained, public practice. This article contributes to literatures on youth studies, public participation and more broadly to sociology of education.</p>

Pagdihon: The Art and Language of Pottery Making in Bari, Sibalom, Antique

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edbert Jay M. Cabrillos ◽  
◽  
Rowena S. Cabrillos ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
Video Recording ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
The Other ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Photo Documentation ◽  
Language Pattern ◽  
Art And Language

Pottery is seen as creation of ornamentals, cooking and storing materials. Yet, while economic gains are often considered from producing these materials, the artistic and linguistic aspects have been ignored. This study discusses the factors influencing the culture of pottery, the processes of pottery making, and seeks to uncover the language used in processes of pottery making in Bari, Sibalom, Antique. A qualitative research employing ethnographic study with participant observation and face to face interviews using photo documentation, video recording and open-ended questions in gathering the data was employed. There were five manugdihon, or potters, purposively selected as key informants of the study. The study revealed that environmental factors influenced the culture of pottery making in the barangay. There were seven main processes in pottery making. These included gathering and preparing of materials, mixing the needed materials, cleaning the mixed clay, forming of desired shape, detaching, drying, and polishing and varnishing. Further findings indicate that, together the other processes, the language used in poterry making was archaic Kinaray-a, the language of the province. This language pattern suggests a specialized pottery making. Ultimately, the study suggest that the manugdihon should continue their artistic talents so that the language may be preserved. The educational institutions of the province may provide ways to include pottery making in the curriculum so that the art and language of pottery making will be preserved and promoted.

Understanding Reproductive Health Services in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, India: A Dalit Feminist Approach

2021 ◽  
pp. 2455328X2110281
Author(s):  
Priti Chandra
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Health ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Uttar Pradesh ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Indian Society ◽  
Reproductive Health Services ◽  
Qualitative Research Design ◽  
Dalit Women ◽  
Eastern Uttar Pradesh

The identity of women cannot be seen in isolation but one that exists along with other constituents that intersects with class, race, sexuality and caste also. Being a woman, a person is already at periphery, adding caste to it makes more vulnerable. Thus, Dalit women are more subjugated in Indian society whether it is about leading a normal life or availing reproductive health services. This study primarily draws from a Dalit feminist perspective to understand the subjectivity and nuisances of the Dalit women who avail reproductive health services. While availing reproductive health services, the sort of discrimination the Dalit women face are denial in providing reproductive health services, creating and observing distance with the Dalit women by the health practitioners, and also promotion of privatization of healthcare services. The study is based on qualitative research design basically, participant observation, in which the total 27 married women were selected for the in-depth interview, among them 16 women were from the Dalit community and 9 women were from the so-called upper caste community. This research was conducted from February to April 2015 in Mau district of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, India.

Diglossia and Local Identity: Swiss German in the Linguistic Landscape of Kleinbasel

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edina Krompák ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Linguistic Landscape ◽  
Local Identity ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Swiss German ◽  
Written Form

The city of Basel is situated in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, in the geographic triangle of three countries: France, Germany and Switzerland. Everyday urban life is characterised by the presence of Standard German and Swiss German as well as diverse migrant languages. Swiss German is ‘an umbrella term for several Alemannic dialects’ (Stepkowska 2012, 202) which differ from Standard German in terms of phonetics, semantics, lexis, and grammar and has no standard written form. Swiss German is predominantly used in oral forms, and Standard German in written communication. Furthermore, an amalgamation of bilingualism and diglossia (Stepkowska 2012, 208) distinguishes the specific linguistic situation, which indicates amongst other things the high prestige of Swiss German in everyday life. To explore the visibility and vitality of Swiss German in the public display of written language, we examined the linguistic landscape of a superdiverse neighbourhood of Basel, and investigated language power and the story beyond the sign – ‘stories about the cultural, historical, political and social backgrounds of a certain space’ (Blommaert 2013, 41). Our exploration was guided by the question: How do linguistic artefacts – such as official, commercial, and private signs – represent the diglossic situation and the relation between language and identity in Kleinbasel? Based on a longitudinal ethnographic study, a corpus was compiled comprising 300 digital images of written artefacts in Kleinbasel. Participant observation and focus group discussions about particular images were conducted and analysed using grounded theory (Charmaz 2006) and visual ethnography (Pink 2006). In our paper, we focus on signs in Swiss German and focus group discussions on these images. Initial analyses have produced two surprising findings; firstly, the visibility and the perception of Swiss German as a marker of local identity; secondly, the specific context of their display.

scholarly journals Humour in Sports Coaching: ‘It’s a Funny Old Game’

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 744-762 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Nicholas Edwards ◽  
Robyn L Jones
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
The Body ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
Ethnographic Film ◽  
The Social ◽  
Field Notes ◽  
Sports Coaching

The primary purpose of this article was to investigate the use and manifestation of humour within sports coaching. This was particularly in light of the social significance of humour as a critical component in cultural creation and negotiation. Data were gathered from a 10-month ethnographic study that tracked the players and coaches of Senghenydd City Football Club (a pseudonym) over the course of a full season. Precise methods of data collection included participant observation, reflective personal field notes, and ethnographic film. The results demonstrated the dominating presence of both ‘inclusionary putdowns’ and ‘disciplinary humour’, particularly in relation to how they contributed to the production and maintenance of the social order. Finally, a reflective conclusion discusses the temporal nature of the collective understanding evident among the group at Senghenydd, and its effect on the humour evident. In doing so, the work contributes to the body of knowledge regarding the social role of humour within sports coaching.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document