South Asia encompasses eight countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. These countries share a geographical location, cultural and historical similarities, and are often grouped together for regional and international purposes.
Calibrated Engagement: chronicles of local politics in the heartland of Myanmar
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Chapter Titles: Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Note on Text -- Introduction -- PART I Histories -- 1 The Coming of Village Headship -- 2 The Last Men of Power -- 3 The Rise of Village Affairs -- PART II Making Politics -- 4 Being the Headman -- 5 Transmitting Land -- 6 The Worth of the Big Men -- 7 Coda Choosing a New Headman -- Conclusion History, Power and Violence -- Glossary -- References -- Index
Childlessness in Bangladesh : intersectionality, suffering and resilience
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This book examines the intersectionality and stratified lived experience of rural poor and urban middle-class childless women in Bangladesh. Childless women in Bangladesh, an over-populated country where fertility control is the primary focus of health policy, are all but non-existent. Papreen Nahar offers an alarming account of stigma, abuse, ostracism and violence against these women, sharing their experiences of marginalisation in a culture that idealises motherhood. In such a reality, the experience of childlessness, particularly for women, can be much more severe than what is defined as 'infertility' in the biomedical sense. As childlessness is a complex interaction between biology, society and culture, the book illustrates the ways in which infertility transforms a health problem into social suffering. Although Bangladeshi childless women are systematically excluded by various structural forces, it appears they do not succumb to their circumstances; rather, they develop resilience and agency to become survivors of their new, albeit bleak, lives. The volume will be of interest to scholars working in anthropology, reproductive and women's health, global health, gender studies, development studies and Asian studies.
Friend by Day Enemy by Night : organized vengeance in a Kohistani Community
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Foreword.Acknowledgements.1. Introduction.2. The Course of the Feud.3. The Power of Islam.4. The Genesis of Dushmani.5. The Distortion of Ecology and Economics.6. The Unbalancing of Kinship.7. The Contortion of Politics.8. The Politics of Fieldwork.Bibliography.Glossary.
Gopalpur : a south Indian village
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Chapters: The shape of Gopalpur -- Childhood and it's consequences -- The problem of acquiring relatives -- Jati and village -- Religion -- Patterns of action -- Navira: the new wind -- Gopalpur and other villages -- Fieldwork in Gopalpur
Perceptions of Climate Change from North India
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Perceptions of Climate Change from North India: An Ethnographic Account explores local perceptions of climate change through ethnographic encounters with the men and women who live at the front line of climate change in the lower Himalayas. From data collected over the course of a year in a small village in an eco-sensitive zone in North India, this book presents an ethnographic account of local responses to climate change, resource management and indigenous environmental knowledge. Aase Kvanneid's observations cast light on the precarious reality of climate change in this region and bring to the fore issues such as access to water, NGO intervention and climate information for farmers. In doing so, she also explores classic topics in the study of rural India including ritual, gender, social hierarchy and political economy. Overall, this book shows how the cause and effect of climate change is perceived by those who have the most to lose and explores how the impact of climate change is being dealt with on a local and global scale. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of the anthropology of climate change, environmental sociology and rural development.
Witchcraft Accusations from Central India : the fragmented urn
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This book unravels the institutions surrounding witchcraft in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh through theoretical and empirical research on witchcraft, violence and modernity in contemporary times. The author pieces together ‘fragments’ of stories gathered utilising ethnographic methods to examine the meanings associated with witches and witchcraft, and how they connect with social relations, gender, notions of agency, law, media and the state.
The volume uses the metaphor of the shattered urn to tell the story of the accusations, punishment, rescue and the aftermath of the events of the trial of women accused of being witches. It situates the ṭonhī or witch as a key elaborating symbol that orders behaviour to determine who the socially included and excluded are in communities. Through the personal interviews and other ethnographic methods conducted over the course of many years, the author delves into the stories and practices related to witchcraft, its relations with modernity, and the relationship between violence and ideological norms in society.
Insightful and detailed, this book will be of great interest to academics and researchers of anthropology, development studies, sociology, history, violence, gender studies, tribal studies and psychology. It will also be useful for readers in both historic and contemporary witchcraft practices as well as policy makers.