The Women of Totagadde: Broken Silence

271 Pages·2017·5.555 MB·English

by  Helen E. Ullrich (auth.)

T h e Wo m e n
o f To t a g a d d e
Broken Silence
Helen E. Ullrich
The Women of Totagadde
Helen E. Ullrich
The Women of
Totagadde
Broken Silence
Helen E. Ullrich
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Tulane University School of Medicine
New Orleans, Louisiana USA
ISBN 978-1-137-59968-1 ISBN 978-1-137-59969-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-59969-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017932750
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In memory of Edward B. Harper, who first suggested I study linguistics and
then indicated that the Havyaka dialect of Kannada would be an
interesting social dialect for my PhD dissertation.1 To facilitate this he
contacted B.T. Subbaiah, who welcomed me into his home and treated
me as a sister.
In memory of B.T. Subbaiah and to B.S. Padmavati, who believed in my
success and provided encouragement for my research. Their hospitality and
friendship have meant much through the years.
In memory of Pauline M. Kolenda, for her encouragement and mentorship
from the time we first met, before my initial trip to India in 1964. She
introduced me to cross-cultural psychiatry when I was a medical student
and showed me how I could combine my linguistic and medical interests in
a continuation of research in Totagadde. Her friendship, scholarship, and
knowledge of the field have been an inspiration.
To the people of Totagadde, whose village became my alternate maternal
home, words are a poor vehicle to express my gratitude.
1 The Havyaka dialect, spoken only among Havik Brahmins, is a language of a prestigious
group. This linguistic isolation insured the maintenance of Havik exclusivity, as well as the
preservation of some proto-Dravidian features.
P
refAce
In 2014, a Nobel Peace Prize to Malala Yousafzai acknowledged to the
world the importance of education for women. At age 17, she was the
youngest person to receive the award, which she dedicated to the “voice-
less (Walsh, October 11, 2014).” The acquisition of knowledge for voice-
less women may be an invitation to death, as the Taliban implied when
they shot 15-year-old Malala in the head. Education has also presented
risks for boys as the December 16, 2014, Taliban slaughter of 145 male
students in a Peshawar Public School (Walsh, December 16, 2014) and
the January 21, 2016, Taliban faction (Khan and Khan 2016) slaughter of
18 students and two professors in Northeast Pakistan sadly demonstrated.
While this book, The Women of Totagadde: Broken Silence, focuses on the
impact of education on a Karnataka village, it has widespread significance
for cultural change throughout the world.
ArrivAl in ToTAgAdde
In 1964, the residents of the South India village Totagadde2 (Photo 1 and
Diagram 1) welcomed a “female student” who came to analyze the Havik
dialect of Kannada. I was that student. At a time when Brahmins restricted
2 The village Totagadde is a pseudonym. With the exception of the acknowledgments, all
names in the text are pseudonyms. Individuals I interviewed provided oral permission to use
pseudonyms. In addition, shaded areas rather than village names on the maps designate
nearby villages, a further protection of Totagadde privacy. The names of the closest town,
Sagar, and of the district town, Shivamogga (formerly Shimoga), situate Totagadde in its
accurate geographical location.
vii
viii PREFACE
Photo 1 The road into Totagadde
entry into their homes to Brahmins, a courageous Havik Brahmin agreed
to be my host on the basis of his friendship with my professor, Edward
B. Harper. Ed Harper, who arranged for my research in Totagadde, began
his anthropological research in the 1950s. He chose Totagadde for its
multicaste composition. A villager’s offer to rent a house to him and his
wife demonstrated Totagadde’s support for their initial research.
My residing with a family without an interpreter helped me learn the
Havyaka language and customs. I initially told my host I would stay three
months but remained for almost two years. His household became my resi-
dence for each of my succeeding 19 visits. Although my last visit was in 2011,
I have kept telephone and e-mail contact with some Totagadde residents.
In 1964, I arrived in Totagadde at the major festival of the year. Big
Festival (doDDhabba) is also known as the Festival of Lights (di:pa:vaLi).
Residents took me around the village when they worshipped the gods who
protect them. My choice of fieldwork methods3 reflects my belief that the
best way to learn about another culture and language is to immerse oneself
in them. I followed Ed Harper’s suggestion to stay in Totagadde for three
months before taking a break to visit the capital, Bengaluru (at that time
Bangalore).
3 The evolving changes in fieldwork over the past 50 years is the subject of Janelle
S. Taylor’s article in the September 2014 American Anthropologist. (Taylor 2014: 523–534).
PREFACE ix
Diagram 1 Map of Karnataka State and Totagadde area
Male villagers came to inform me of Ed Harper’s friendship and to
assure me that they would keep me safe. Although women commented on
my bravery in traveling alone, I did not feel brave. Many puzzled over my
silence, but I believed the time to assert myself was after acquiring fluency
x PREFACE
in Havyaka Kannada. If women could retreat to the kitchen for safety when
guests came, I could retreat to listen behind my own wall of silence. When
I was invited to an orthoprax4 home for a gathering of Haviks to meet me,
they asked what we ate in the United States. I listed all the vegetables for
which I knew the Kannada words. From the back of the room the son of the
household shouted, “They eat meat in the United States. Then they drink
wine to digest the meat.” Silence seemed the most appropriate response.
During my initial visit from 1964 to1966, my focus was on the Havik
dialect of Kannada and on Havik Brahmins. In subsequent visits I expanded
my focus to include the distinctive dialectal, lexical, and phonetic varia-
tions within the Totagadde caste dialects. As a linguist, I am interested
in the significance of silence and speech. As a psychiatrist, I am interested
in the choice to be silent or to speak. The difference between silence that
reflects anger or hopelessness and speech that transmits information or
expresses self-respect suggests the multifaceted nature of language.
As a psychiatrist I wondered whether pre-pubertal marriage predisposed
women to depression. Perhaps those Totagadde women who endorsed
socialized passivity were vulnerable to depression while those who chal-
lenged their socialization were at risk for anxiety.5 Their conviction that
they were not only voiceless but also invisible was a potential precipitant
for the hopelessness of depression. When attempts to gain recognition
or approval brought no response or even abuse, speaking was danger-
ous. Those women so socialized failed to develop their own voices. This
was most marked in the 1960s, when passivity facilitated smooth famil-
ial relationships. In Totagadde, the woman who respected her elders and
husband found that accepting the cultural parameters provided an escape
from her own feelings of incompetence. Gradually as women came to
believe their opinions had an audience, they developed individual voices.
Theoretically, the eldest male (yejma:nru) was responsible for everyone
in the household. A joint family consisted of two generations or more
of a father, his wife, unmarried children, at least one married son and
his wife and children. The yejma:nru made the financial decisions and
could veto his son’s decision to send his wife to visit her parents. Usually
yejma:nru consulted with family members regarding his brother’s chil-
dren’s or grandchildren’s education and marital decisions. However, he
held the financial authority to carry out the decisions.
4 Orthoprax refers to ritual practices that are important for cultural acceptance. As long as an
individual is appropriately respectful of the traditions, no one questions the individual’s beliefs.
5 Could this represent two aspects of one illness? Congruent genetic factors contribute to
the risk for depressive and anxiety disorders (Kendler and Prescott 2006; Levy 2007).
PREFACE xi
At the yejma:nru’s death his sons might divide the property. Upon
establishing separate households, each brother would have autonomy
over his own household. Widows had no place in this patriarchal society.
Despite the obligation of their husbands’ households to support them,
many widows were returned to their parental households. Men regarded
women as forever childlike, afraid to act independently.
Over the years, I witnessed many striking changes in Totagadde cul-
ture. In the 1960s, a woman successfully challenged the culture by finding
her voice, speaking out, and assuming management of the family land. She
provided a role model for others to expand their horizons, initially when
necessary and later for sharing responsibility with their husbands. When
these women spoke, their husbands and other men reconsidered their own
beliefs and began to encourage their beloved daughters to develop their
potential. When a few women found a voice and realized a vocal presence,
a cacophony of independent voices followed. As women discovered they
could voice opinions without risking physical abuse, many expressed pride
in their accomplishments.
This book traces the odyssey between 1964 and 2011 from a cultural
ideal of passivity to an ideal of assertiveness for Havik Brahmin women,
corresponding to the increased availability of educational opportunities.
Part I consists of four chapters representing four time periods and provid-
ing the ethnographic narrative from which the reader can form hypotheses
about cultural changes. The analytic commentary in Part II consists of
four chapters focusing on education as a catalyst for change, its impact on
marriage, on ritual beliefs and social behavior, and on the changing status
of the widow from culturally invisible to valued member of society. This
organization parallels the transition from fieldwork to analysis, from par-
ticipant observation and directed interviewing to commentary, and shows
how linguists and anthropologists develop theories on the basis of field
data. Education is an equalizer, allowing opportunities for professional
development, for choosing one’s marriage partner, and for associating
with members of other social groups and castes. In addition, education
allows the perception of competence and autonomy.
The villAge
Totagadde (Photos 2 and 3), located in the Western Ghats of Karnataka
State, South India, is approximately 200 miles from Bengaluru. The vil-
lage name refers to the major crops of this area—areca nut plantation (to:
Ta) and rice paddy (gadde) (Diagram 2). Village gods mark Totagadde