Paper short abstract:

Does anthropology indeed need a national identity? The paper critically analyzes the question with the examination of ‘Bangladeshi anthropology’ in South Asia in relation to Indian social anthropology.

Paper long abstract:

Does anthropology indeed need a national identity? If it is, what is Bangladeshi Anthropology? The paper addresses the questions in relations to Indian Social Anthropology. While global scholarship entertains transnationalism, the quest for national identity of a discipline seems narrow scholarly endeavor. But, national articulation of transnational spaces is significant to understand distinctiveness of a discipline with national scholarship. The paper critically examines whether there is any Bangladeshi Anthropology in South Asia.

Though institutionalized journey of anthropology in Bangladesh started recently, the practice of doing ethnographic research is dated back to early twentieth century, which was initiated by Indian anthropologists or Bangladeshi anthropologists trained in India and the West. Later, many European ethnographers undertook ethnographic research that led to the emergence of Anthropology as a separate discipline in Bangladesh. The spectrum of anthropological research ranges from agrarian village structure, social organizations, power structure, women's empowerment, indigenous and religious minority, environment issues, micro-credit, NGOs and development, media and popular culture, urban life and slum dwellers, reproductive health, state-formation and identity politics, garments sectors, Bangladeshi diaspora, liberation war, social transitions, political culture to organ transplantations. These research constituted a distinctive approach, and spatial feature which could be called 'the Anthropology of Bangladesh'. However, it is still unrecognized whether this scholarship could frame a national identity of Anthropology labeling Bangladeshi Anthropology. The paper explores the problems and potentials of national identity of Anthropology in Bangladesh examining the influences of Indian Social Anthropology along strong influences of British and American trend in Anthropology.

Paper short abstract:

Reading the contributions of an eminent anthropologist from Sri Lanka in the contemporary scene of anthropology in India aids in developing a south Asian perspective in anthropology in India. What could be however termed a south Asian perspective, and what is the contribution of Obeyesekere?

Paper long abstract:

When sociology and social anthropology in India grappled with the binaries of fast decolonizing contexts of South Asia, Gananath Obeyesekere wrote a paper to present a systematic rebuttal of one of the key binaries, namely little tradition and great tradition. Located beyond the binaries Obeyesekere not only presented a smashing deal to the thesis of Marshal Sahlin but also revisited the discourses in psychoanalysis to comprehend the relegated religious experiences characterized by Medusa's hair. This paper, with a systematic engagement with the select works of Obeyesekere, in relation with the larger debates in Indian context, explores the covert and overt possibilities with Obeyesekere's anthropology.

Paper short abstract:

The Anthropological Survey of India generated enough empirical information to show how Indian communities are interlinked with each other across linguistic, religious and geographical lines. This can be used to develop tools for assessing the extent of exclusion and inclusion in Indian society more objectively.

Paper long abstract:

The search for Indian characters in Indian anthropology has had been continuing for decades. Unfortunately there is no common protocol for the search; we do not have a standard measure to determine when an exercise can be called India, or widening the net little wider, South Asian. The Anthropological Survey of India never had decolonization of anthropology on its agenda, works done in post-independence years often followed theoretical models developed in the West to understand ‘social structure’ or to plot ‘culture areas’ in the country. Still studies undertaken by Anthropological Survey of India stood apart from the earlier studies on one count. Earlier ethnographic accounts of the country were attempted for a large region or for the entire country. Works done by Russel, Dalton and Risley can be put in this category. In most of those works the units of study were viewed as disparate entities, interconnectedness between them was often underplayed. The nationwide survey of material culture or of livelihood practices drew attention to the extent of sharing. More recently the ethnographic compendium ‘People of India’ tried to quantify the linkages and decipher the underlying pattern. It is true that the findings have not been generalized and theorized to the extent those could be, but there is enough scope to develop tools for assessing the quality and quantity of sharing. The assessment can shade light on the extent of exclusion and inclusion in different sections of Indian society in objective terms.

Paper short abstract:

The paper is based on multi-pronged approach to understand the contours of social mobility. The analysis of the paper is based on Marxian and Weberian perspective rather than on the basis of culturological, indic or sanscritised model putforth by M.N. Srinivan to define social mobility in the Indian context.

Paper long abstract:

After having been derived the basic inputs from the classic work of Pritim A. Sorokin on Social and Cultural mobility I make a further sociological inquiry into social mobility through a micro-level study in Giridih district of Jharkhand, India. In addition to longitudinal survey, genealogy is a crucial methodological approach adopted in the study for better understanding about social mobility. This is an attempt in the paper to analyze gender, caste, class, power and social status as major dimensions in the study. The analysis of the paper is based dominantly on Marxian and Weberian perspective rather than on the basis of culturological, indic or sanscritised model putforth by M.N. Srinivan to define social mobility in the Indian context. The paper also examines various intrinsic and extrinsic factors such as youth social behavior, new economic policies, government social and welfare schemes which have influenced social mobility across individuals and groups. The paper also explores various means of opportunities and constraints in social mobility.

Paper short abstract:

The paper is based on multi pronged approach to understand the exclusion of the gendered perspective through the perspective of ecofeminism to understand the exclusion of not only the gendered knowledge but also of women in the public discourse in Northeast India.

Paper long abstract:

Woman has a deep intrinsic relations with forest and its environment as they are seen closer to nature, in particular the indigenous women with forest, as they gather food, fuel, fodder, leaves and water for their family while man are seen as being closer to culture according to patriarchal thinking. The traditional indigenous women in Northeast India are no exceptions to this rule as forest intersect the important areas of ecology, economy and traditions. Among the environment issues, the forest particularly is seen as embodying a feminine life-conserving principle as a diverse and self-reproducing system, shared as a commons by a diversity of social groups. The coming of colonialism and modernity has created a gendered public space in which women became vulnerable to exploitation and has relegated at the background along with the knowledge that they possess and it is in the body of women much of the discord of modernity and traditions take place. There is a vacuum in the knowledge of Ecofeminism in Northeast India, which this paper seeks to analyse the reason for its exclusion. The paper seeks to analyse the gendered knowledge of women in forest and environment in Northeast India and its linkage with the exclusion from the system of modern science of knowledge which has become a patriarchal project and the need for an inclusive policy to address the marginalization as well as the exclusion of the women and the indigenous gendered knowledge of in the public domain of knowledge.

Paper short abstract:

Using feministic critique, I shall compare the situation of Kondh tribal women in Southern Odisha prevailing in the past and now, in view of environmental degradation and industrial encroachments.

Paper long abstract:

Indian indigenous people called Adivasi in popular parlance and scheduled tribe in administrative jargon are among the most deprived and oppressed sections of India. Poverty, exploitation, displacement, land alienation, illiteracy, lack of health facilities, destruction of natural resources, emergence of mining in Adivasi or tribal region which hamper the ethnic culture or tribal life etc. are the major problems of the Indian Adivasi and Dalit population. Adivasis constitute 8.6% of the total population in India (2011 census). Where, women are central to the economy of the tribal society, their total life is being more difficult for the destruction of natural resources. In this presentation we will focus on the women of the Kondh tribe of south Odisha, where F.G. Bailey had studied the initial phase of Adivasi exploitation some six decades ago. One of our approaches is to compare the situation prevailing then and now, specially focusing on the poor rural households who are presently suffering from environmental degradation and industrial encroachments. Obviously the dependence on forest resources has declined and livelihood opportunities collapsed. Nonetheless, Adivasi women are becoming conscious of their rights increasingly as they are exposed to civil society activities and smaller agitations. Indian state has introduced some new laws to empower the oppressed tribespeople. Implimentation of these is tormented as several existing institutional infrastructure need to be transformed.

Paper short abstract:

Two worlds of social explanations tangential to each other exist today in Sri Lanka, one based out of the country, strong on fictional theory but low on facts and the other based locally, strong on observation but low on theory. The two do not meet.

Paper long abstract:

In the 1960s, social science education of Sri Lanka switched to local languages creating a world of learning, separate from that of foreign-based anthropologists (FBAs). In both, the subject matter was Sinhalese. The Sinhalese, unlike simpler societies studied hitherto by anthropologists, were heir to a rich tradition of literature going back to the pre-Christian era in history as well as in the behavioural condition described in Buddhist thought and practice. As this bifurcation was occurring, a “critique of anthropology” on the subject’s colonial connection developed elsewhere - with no FBAs on Sri Lanka participating. Most Sinhala-educated anthropologists were ignorant of these debates or of the major writings by FBAs. FBAs, in turn were generally unaware even in translation of the local literature, except in some amusing manifestations. Obeyesekere, at a time when Freud was being ridiculed and Buddhist-based cognitive therapy becoming accepted in the West, suggested psychoanalysing Sri Lankan chronicles. A Protestant Buddhism was invented to explain Buddhists’ revival of what colonials destroyed. The carriers of this “Protestantism”, were however anti-Christian Theosophists, exposed by the Buddhists as irrational. Kapferer wrote four books on the character of Sinhalese, based on a sample, mostly of three believers in exorcism. Tambiah invented incidents. The list goes on. In contrast, locals without this external baggage using both historical material and observations were delivering another “anthropological” reality. This is in recent peer-reviewed conferences which bring about a few hundred presentations every year. FBA fiction and locals’ fact collide.