Everyday Life in South Asia

by Mines, Diane P.

• ISBN13: 9780253221940
• ISBN10: 0253221943
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-07-16
• Publisher: INDIANA UNIV PR

Summary

This anthology provides a lively and stimulating view of the lives of ordinary citizens in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. For the second edition of this popular textbook, readings have been updated and new essays added. The result is a timely collection that explores key themes in understanding the region, including gender, caste, class, religion, globalization, economic liberalization, nationalism, and emerging modernities. New readings focus attention on the experiences of the middle classes, migrant workers, and IT professionals and on media, consumerism, and youth culture. Clear and engaged writing makes this text particularly valuable for general and student readers, while the range of new and classic scholarship provides a useful resource for specialists in the field.

Author Biography

Diane P. Mines is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Appalachian State University. She is author of Fierce Gods: Inequality, Ritual, and the Politics of Dignity in a South Indian Village (IUP, 2005).

Sarah Lamb is Associate Professor and Chair of Anthropology at Brandeis University. She is author of White Saris and Sweet Mangoes: Aging, Gender and Body in North India and Aging and the Indian Diaspora: Cosmopolitan Families in India and Abroad (IUP, 2009).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Note on Transliteration	p. xi
Map	p. xiv
Introduction	p. 1
The Family and the Life Course
Introduction	p. 9
One Straw from a Broom Cannot Sweep: The Ideology and Practice of the Joint Family in Rural North India	p. 14
Allah Gives Both Boys and Girls	p. 26
ôOut Here in Kathmanduö: Youth and the Contradictions of Modernity in Urban Nepal	p. 40
Rethinking Courtship, Marriage, and Divorce in an Indian Call Center	p. 50
Love and Aging in Bengali Families	p. 62
Genders
Introduction	p. 75
New Light in the House: Schooling Girls in Rural North India	p. 80
Roadwork: Offstage with Special Drama Actresses in Tamil Nadu, South India	p. 94
Breadwinners No More: Identities in Flux	p. 110
Life on the Margins: A Hijra's Story	p. 124
Crossing ôLinesö of Difference: Transnational Movements and Sexual Subjectivities in Hyderabad, India	p. 132
Caste, Class, and Community
Introduction	p. 145
Seven Prevalent Misconceptions about India's	p. 153
God-Chariots in a Garden of Castes: Hierarchy and Festival in a Hindu City	p. 155
High and Low Castes in Karani	p. 171
Weakness, Worry Illness, and Poverty in the Slums of Dhaka	p. 180
Anjali's Alliance: Class Mobility in Urban India	p. 192
Recasting the Secular: Religion and Education in Kerala, India	p. 206
Practicing Religion
Introduction	p. 219
The Hindu Gods in a South Indian Village	p. 226
The Feast of Love	p. 238
The Delusion of Gender and Renunciation in Buddhist Kashmir	p. 250
Muslim Village Intellectuals: The Life of the Mind in Northern Pakistan	p. 263
In Friendship: A Father, a Daughter, and a Jinn	p. 275
Vernacular Islam at a Healing Crossroads in Hyderabad	p. 290
Nation-Making
Introduction	p. 309
Voices from the Partition	p. 314
A Day in the Life	p. 328
Living and Dying for Mother India: Hindu Nationalist Female Renouncers and Sacred Duty	p. 343
Political Praise in Tamil Newspapers: The Poetry and Iconography of Democratic Power	p. 354
Mala's Dream: Economic Policies, National Debates, and Sri Lankan Garment Workers	p. 371
Interviews with High School Students in Eastern Sri Lanka	p. 384
Globalization, Public Culture, and the South Asian Diaspora
Introduction	p. 399
Cinema in the Countryside: Popular Tamil Film and the Remaking of Rural Life	p. 406
Dangerous Desires: Erotics, Public Culture, and Identity in Late-Twentieth-Century India	p. 421
A Diaspora Ramayana in Southall	p. 436
British Sikh Lives, Lived in Translation	p. 448
Examining the ôGlobalö Indian Middle Class: Gender and Culture in the Silicon Valley/Bangalore Circuit	p. 461
Placing Lives through Stories: Second-Generation South Asian Americans	p. 472
Unexpected Destinations	p. 487
List of References	p. 503
List of Contributors	p. 545
Index	p. 549
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