Search

The utility of the term ‘dividual’ in the evaluation of a microenterprise project mounted by a major transnational corporation in Madhya Pradesh, India, is considered. Aimed at the empowerment of poor rural women and deployed across India as well as in several other countries, the project itself challenges the constraints of poverty and traditionalism on women's agency, particularly within the husband/wife relationship. Melanesian and Indian versions of the concept of the ‘dividual’, as formulated by anthropologists working in the two areas, are tested against a current formulation in South Asian development literature of women's empowerment through participation in local self-help groups. It is found that although the Melanesian version of the ‘dividual’ allows for transformation through the creation of a new reference point for innovative agency, it fails to take into account hierarchy in the form of the public/private divide typical of state societies and necessary to the formulation of empowerment strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers an analysis of the construction and deployment of the ideas of ‘the West’ and ‘tradition’ in the social commentary of Ashis Nandy. It argues that Nandy's ‘critical’ defence of tradition is framed and animated by occidentalism and renders tradition into a paradoxical space of redemption and innocence. The first part of the paper shows that Nandy's nativist narratives of loss and his suspicion of political ideologies place him both in and against post-colonial cultural politics. The second section examines and illustrates the mutually defining nature of occidentalism and traditionalism. It is shown that Nandy's stereotypes of authentic Indian culture undermine the critical capabilities of his ‘critical traditionalism’. Part three explores Nandy's dilemmas further by reference to his attempts to align tradition with reflexivity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents an examination into the liberal discourse of Bengal during its British colonial period, focusing on the perceived antithesis between custom and liberty. Introductory information is given highlighting the intellectual history from the Enlightenment to the present which has contrasted the two concepts and set them as exclusive opposites. An overview of liberal discourse in Bengal during the 19th century is then reviewed seeking to find examples when the two were not seen as mutually exclusive and opposing political ideas.

This article argues that Hindu temples in Hyderabad, a city in a territory ruled by Muslims from the fourteenth century until the 1948 incorporation of the princely state of Hyderabad into independent India, were resources in a multi-religious landscape, institutions that reflected the political power of their patrons and often performed functions for the state. Temples were built and managed as part of the Indo-Muslim or Mughlai urban court economy in Hyderabad, and temple patronage reflected the shifting patterns of prominence as one high-ranking Hindu noble or official replaced another and secured state support for major temples. Rather than defending Hyderabad state's policies and practices with respect to Hindu institutions and events, this article shows the development and implementation of an Indo-Muslim ruling tradition as Muslim rulers interacted with non-Muslims to become part of a distinctively South Asian tradition of secularism or pluralism. Rather than syncretism or synthesis, I emphasize 'translation', appropriate to the time and place, as the concept best able to capture the pluralism of India's historical Indo-Muslim cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Film industry in India has been an integral part of the society. In this paper we discuss how film producers do brand development in Indian Cinema. A case of a leading filmmaker Sooraj Barjatya is taken to show how audiences are kept tied to cinema by juxtaposing traditional Indian values with evolving modern forms of living. The paper analyzes the relationship between modernity and traditionalism. Several films of Barjatya have been analyzed to draw inferences. The social significance of this paper therefore comes from its conclusions about how Barjatya's brand remains loyal to a traditional setup of narration while modernizing its narratives through growing technology and consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the rise of the radical adivasi resistance of the Munda, Oraon, Santal, and Ho tribes in Eastern India during the years 1855-1932. Whether or not an effective mobilisation could be built on traditional institutions and culture required a reassessment of the ideology is noted. The terms "tradition" and "ideology" as it applies to the adivasi movement are explored. The cultural implications of the revitalisation movement include a split in the adivasi society between the new converts to the philosophy and others, a change in the leadership's social roots, the borrowing of ideas from several Hindu sects especially Vaisnayas are discussed.

In the 1880s and 1890s, British officials worried that traditional Indian design was disappearing in the face of rapid westernization. But their idea of what constituted, 'traditional' design was itself new, forged first at international exhibitions and then in the context of Indian artisanal and consumer experimentation with novel combinations of foreign styles and objects. Indeed, it was the latter which prompted British art officials in India to call for a return to tradition. But traditionalism in design was not just in reaction to Indian cosmopolitan tendencies; it tried to achieve its own, slightly different cosmopolitanism by Indianizing western forms with the application of pure Indian ornament. I argue that it was in the intersection of these competing visions - Indian and British, metropolitan and colonial - of how to use and fill homes with new goods that a new definition of Indian traditional design emerged in this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The data presented in this paper are based en a survey (n=165) conducted somewhere in north-western India. The results show that the institution of marriage is undergoing change in a number of ways. There is slow alteration in the range, the criteria and the procedure of selection. In accordance with changes in the conditions of existence, familism is waning and individualism is waxing. The wishes of the individuals concerned are struggling for dominance over the intentions of their families and kinsmen. Inspite of tensions and conflicts sometimes, by and large our interviewees are permanently and happily married. Facts and fiction coexist in the minds of our interviewees. The ideas are changing faster than the reality. Wide gaps between consciousness and reality are a source of stress. There is no single reason for what is going on. A multiplicity of facts is transforming the total socio-cultural phenomenon. Individualism, consumerism, rationalisation, are key explanatory categories. The direction of change is from traditionalism to rationalisation of social life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on attitudinal change and traditionalism in the Hindu Family. In India, at the present time, multidirectional forces of industrialization, urbanization, and socio-educational advancement are affecting various aspects of the traditional Indian society. This article does not purport to take up the task of conceptualization, but it instead suggests a scheme which can be helpful in the study of change in the Hindu family. The analysis points out a rather differential attitude of educated youths of Gujarat regarding various elements of the Hindu family on the traditional-nontraditional continuum. In general, only a few indications of deviation in the hypothesized traditional attitude regarding the Hindu joint family were found among the graduate students of the Gujarat University. Although women, rural-born, and low caste students were more traditional than men, urban-born, and high caste students respectively, women students seemed to be more concerned for equality in family relationships and viewed living in the joint family as a barrier in achieving this end.