Archive for februari, 2009
Desi Girls
Posted by Johanna in Anthropology, Gender, India on februari 26th, 2009
I proudly present the working title of my thesis; Desi girls
I arrived to Delhi on nov 5. The first Bollywoodfilm that premiered upon my arrival was Dostana nov 14. With Indian films, frequently called Bollywoodfilms, the soundtrack is always released in advance so that the songs can give the film a buzz. The hitsong Desi Girl from the film Dostana was frequently played during my time spent in India, among the girls and on the cafes and places we went. I choose this name because the song was the soundtrack of my field.
‘Desi girl’ is interesting on both a musical and a textual level. The song is both containing ‘modern’ beats as well as ‘typical’ old-school ‘Bollywood tradititon’ parts it is a mix of the old Indian music and the modern up-beat music. Regarding the lyrics; Desi originally means ‘from the country’ (referring to India) in sanskrit. So Desi girls means Indian girls. This is the chorus from the hitsong from Dostana, the soundtrack of my field;
“Dekhi Lakh Lakh Pardesi Girl (I have seen a million foreign girls) Ain’t Nobody Like My Desi Girl”
Since my thesis is about the specific girls, the Desi girls put in a comparative perspective, how gender is a process among Desi and Pardesi. The main focus is the gender construction process is India. Hence the name of the thesis. The song specifies it ‘aint nobody like my Desi girl’. I discuss the foreign girls and the Desi girls. We are all girls but the question is how do we become girls, what is normative behaviour for girls and how are we the creators in this process? ‘How is gender constructed’?
Defining a concept- Anthromodern
Posted by Johanna in Anthropology on februari 25th, 2009
I belong to the anthropological discipline. Anthropology means the knowledge of humanity- the study of the the social human beings in different types of societies.
Today we live in a modern age, so I am introducing the concept of Anthromodernity in my blog title. In this age of modernity I believe that anthromodern is an adequate term for the people of this age.
I am anthromodern. We are all anthromodern.
Fingers crossed for Slumdog Millionaire
Posted by Johanna in India, Popular culture on februari 22nd, 2009
Tonight the annual 81st Oscar’s are held.
I am keeping my fingers crossed for the Indian featured film Slumdog Millionaire, a film with a message and a vision. It is nominated in 10 categories and I believe in this film based on the novel by Vikas Swarup. I would be most happy if it got the award for ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’. But as far as I am concerned, the film has already Oscar or not, created a great buzz and opened up for a debate in India as well as outside India.
In the slums in Bombay and in slums all over the world for that matter, children are being mistreated, deprived of their rights to education and health and used in the criminal world as the Slumdog Millinaire shows. Not only the children, the families living in these areas deserve better standards. And nothing is impossible. The human hearts out there can make a difference. There are several slum projects to support for example:
Actor Anil Kapoor donated his ‘Slumdog Millinaire’ salary to Plan International India’s project which effects the slum dwellers aka slumdogs, an all India birth registration campaign. More actions like this are to follow since the debate on these problems have gotten into the bright lights of the Oscars.
Fingers crossed for Slumdog Millionaire!
The kitten-door
At a cafe in South Delhi there are two toilets. The first time I saw the two doors, I actually did not interpret which one I was supposed to enter. Until one of the staff members screamed in my direction -kitten, kitten!
The peacock is the national bird of India, and the cat is the symbol of the female in this context. I do not wish to ascribe the features of these animals to men and women and I do not find it to be very flattering for any gender. But what can I do. I just went into the kitten-door.
The indian culture project – The pub-going, loose and forward women continues to fight
Posted by Johanna in Anthropology, Gender, India on februari 19th, 2009
The Indian culture project is the next step for The Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women, the founders of the previously discussed Pink Chaddi Campaign. The last campaign project aimed to protest Hindu right wing group Shiv Sene who allegedly thrown women out of a pub and beat them in Public in Mangalore on Jan 24.
The Consortium’s new project ‘The indian culture project’ is about producing indian culture. Culture is a process in the making and on their web the The Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women is encouraging women to make short films >1 minute showing them doing something they love, and then say the following straight into the camera -’This is Indian culture’.
This is a quote from their web: ‘So reclaim your culture. Show the world how you live and why your way of life too is Indian culture’.
Anthropologically speaking this is such an interesting project! It has the ingredients: power, females & culture, the manifesto: reclaim your rights to your culture and the campaign and it also poses the answer to the question- who owns the culture? I believe that culture is the property of the people who inherit it. Apparently the Consortium does to. I Fully support this project and wish the Consortium well!
Fight to be continued…
Encountering Shiva
I met this little kid dressed as the divine Shiva on a train carriage when I was backpacking in India 2002. The inventive little Shiva had connected a water sprinkler to his head to illustrate how the river Ganga flows from Shivas hair when the goddess entered the earth. It was my first encounter with a god on earth and a strong memory for me. Later I learnt that is not uncommon for Indian children to dress up as Gods, but my first encounter was a very strong experience. Of course I gave Shiva some rupees. He greeted all the travellers on the train and let me take his picture.
