The Modern Anthropology of India: Ethnography, Themes and Theory PDF
Preview The Modern Anthropology of India: Ethnography, Themes and Theory
The Modern Anthropology of India The Modern Anthropology of India is an accessible textbook providing a critical overview of the ethnographic work done in India since 1947. It assesses the history of research in each region and serves as a practical and comprehensive guide to the main themes dealt with by ethnographers. It highlights key analytical concepts and paradigms that came to be of relevance in particular regions in the recent history of research in India, and which possibly gained a pan-Indian or even trans-Indian signifi cance. Structured according to the states of the Indian union, contributors raise several key questions, including: • What themes were ethnographers interested in? • What are the signifi cant ethnographic contributions? • How are peoples, communities and cultural areas represented? • How has the ethnographic research in the area developed? Filling a signifi cant gap in the literature, the book is an invaluable resource to students and researchers in the fi eld of Indian anthropology/ethnography, regional anthropology and postcolonial studies. It is also of interest to students of South Asian studies in general as it provides an extensive and critical overview of regionally based ethnographic activity undertaken in India. Peter Berger teaches Anthropology and Indian Religions at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. His ethnographic research in highland Orissa focuses on religion, food, ritual, social structure and cultural change. Frank Heidemann is Professor for Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Munich, Germany. His research interests include society and religion in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. This page intentionally left blank The Modern Anthropology of India Ethnography, themes and theory Edited by Peter Berger and Frank Heidemann First published 2013 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2013 Peter Berger and Frank Heidemann The right of the editor to be identifi ed as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data The modern anthropology of India : ethnography, themes and theory / edited by Peter Berger and Frank Heidemann. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Ethnology--India--History. 2. Ethnology--India--Methodology. 3. Ethnology--India-- Philosophy. I. Berger, Peter. II. Heidemann, Frank. GN17.3.I4M64 2013 305.800954--dc23 2012042154 ISBN: 978-0-415-58723-5 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-415-58724-2 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-203-52322-3 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Saxon Graphics Ltd, Derby For our children Lena (1988), Kathrin (1990), Teresa (1990) Lina (2003), Malte (2009), Levi (2012) This page intentionally left blank Contents List of contributors ix Preface xiii 1 Introduction: The many Indias – the whole and its parts 1 PETER BERGER AND FRANK HEIDEMANN 2 Andhra Pradesh: Economic and social relations 12 P. PRATAP KUMAR 3 Bihar: Caste, class, and violence 29 CAROLYN BROWN HEINZ 4 Chhattisgarh: At the crossroads 46 CHRISTOPHER A. GREGORY 5 Gujarat: Transformations of hierarchy 66 HELENE BASU 6 Jammu and Kashmir: Dispute and diversity 89 MARTIN SÖKEFELD 7 Jharkhand: Alternative citizenship in an “Adivasi state” 106 MARINE CARRIN 8 Karnataka: Caste, dominance and social change in the ‘Indian village’ 121 AYA IKEGAME 9 Kerala: Plurality and consensus 136 HEIKE MOSER AND PAUL YOUNGER 10 Madhya Pradesh: Anthropology and development 157 RAMDAS LAMB viii Contents 11 Maharashtra: Constructing regional identities 174 ANTHONY CARTER AND AMIT DESAI 12 North-East India: Ethnography and politics of identity 193 TANKA B. SUBBA AND JELLE J. P. WOUTERS 13 Odisha: Rajas and Prajas in a multi-segmented society 208 UWE SKODA AND TINA OTTEN 14 Punjab and Haryana: Kinship and marriage 227 GEORG PFEFFER 15 Rajasthan: Anthropological perspectives on tribal identity 242 MAXINE WEISGRAU 16 Tamil Nadu: Inequality and status 260 GABRIELE ALEX AND FRANK HEIDEMANN 17 Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh: Ritual healing 276 WILLIAM S. SAX 18 Uttar Pradesh: Untouchability and politics 286 MANUELA CIOTTI 19 West Bengal: Colonial legacy, class formation and politics 309 HENRIKE DONNER Index 327 Contributors Gabriele Alex is Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at Tübingen University. Her current research interest is medical pluralism in South India. Her last book is Medizinische Diversität im Postkolonialen Indien. Dynamik und Perzeption von Gesundheitsangeboten in Tamil Nadu (2010). Helene Basu is Professor of Anthropology at Westfaelische Wilhelms-Universitaet Muenster. She has published extensively on the African diaspora (Sidi) in Gujarat (ed., Journeys and Dwellings: Indian Ocean Themes in South Asia, 2008). Her recent research concerns psychiatry at the interface of religion and politics (‘Contested Practices of Control: Psychiatric and Religious Mental Health Care in India’, Curare, 2009). Peter Berger teaches Anthropology and Indian Religions at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. His ethnographic research in highland Orissa focuses on religion, food, ritual, social structure and cultural change. He is the author of Füttern, Speisen und Verschlingen (2007) and co-editor of Fieldwork: Social Realities in Anthropological Perspective (2009) and The Anthropology of Values (2010). Marine Carrin is Director of Research with the CNRS at the Centre d’Anthropologie Sociale, Toulouse-Le Mirail. She has worked among the Santals for many years and is the author of La Fleur et l’Os: Symbolisme et rituel chez les Santal (EHESS, 1986), Enfants de la Déesse: Prêtrise et dévotion féminine au Bengal (CNRS éditions et MSH, 1997) and, with H. Tambs-Lyche, A Peripheral Encounter: Santals, Missionaries and their Changing Worlds 1867–1900 (Manohar, 2008). Anthony Carter is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of Rochester. He was Editor of the Lewis Henry Morgan Lectures and Chair of the Committee on Demography and Anthropology of the International Union for the Scientifi c Study of Population. In addition to work on Maharashtra, his publications include ‘Agency and Fertility: For an Ethnography of Practice’ and ‘Cultural Models and Reproductive Behavior’. Manuela Ciotti is Assistant Professor in Global Studies at Aarhus University and a ‘Framing the Global’ Fellow (2011–14) at Indiana University Bloomington. She has written several essays on Dalits and is the author of Retro-Modern India: Forging the Low-caste Self (Routledge, 2010), Political Agency and Gender in India (Routledge, forthcoming) and Femininities and Masculinities in I ndian Politics (Berghahn, forthcoming).
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