Archive for augusti, 2009
Discourse analysis – a method for the social sciences
Posted by Johanna in Anthropology, India on augusti 28th, 2009
When concluding a fieldwork study a big task lies ahead. Which information is useful? And what types of statemenst can I make out of the information data? I started with a discourse analysis, to reveal underlying patterns in my material. This is an example from my Delhi informant Sushmita: ” A good girl is expected not to smoke or drink”.
This is an example of the kind of discourse-bound expectations that are prevalent in the Delhi society that this utterance was stated. In this setting a good girl can be defined by her personal qualities as a non- smoker and non-drinker. By the methodological framework of identifying patterns in my interview data, I am able to say something about dominant discourses which come into place in the gender identity shaping process of my informants.
Fanny Ambjörnsson in her study “I en klass för sig” argues that there is a normative femininity “[...] both historically rooted and constantly produced in day-to-day
interactions” (2004:305). Furthermore Ambjörnsson investigates how normative behaviour is negotiated within the heteronormative framework and how the girls in her study maintain, but at the same time, challenge the normative gender behaviour. They can apply roles of the good girl in the mixed sex classroom, and they behave according to a different set of rules in a same sex setting, in the privacy of their homes. Therefore I argue that different discourses are at work in different types of social settings, the data I collected are discourse bound not only in the actual statements but also according to when, where and with whom the statements were recorded. I strongly recommend discourse analysis as a method for studies within the field of social sciences.
The ‘good Indian girl’ – defining a normative concept
Posted by Johanna in Anthropology, Gender, India on augusti 24th, 2009
Johanna: Is there a norm to be a good Indian girl and in that case, which are her
qualities?
Yasmin: In India girls are expected to be silent, demure and sacrificial. It’s not ok to
challenge norms, or argue back with people. You are expected to be subservient and
humble, and excessively helpful.
*
One day at Lady Shri Ram College, in South Delhi, the students were gathered in the
assembly room for a screening of a documentary on women’s issues. Yasmin and Preity
were present in the hall to see the Jagori documentary, they described the documentary
content to me. The documentary makers were filming with a hidden camera at an upper class market in south Delhi at 9 PM.
Various men were asked about their views on women who were outside after 9 PM and the voices in the documentary were unequivocal: “the women who are out at night are not good women – they are obviously not from respected families”, “women who were out at night were not respectable”. And the underlying attitude in a sense justified that the women outside after 9 PM could be blamed if they were caught up in dangerous situations at night. This is one of the many stories on gender and space that my Delhi informants shared with me during research in India. I also found out that the girls are highly aware of the normative behaviour that is ascribed to females and on which ways they negotiate and challenge these norms.
I think the normative gendered public behaviour that is expected out of women is a really interesting topic for research. Hopefully this is what I am researching in the future.
The picture of the day
Posted by Johanna in Popular culture on augusti 21st, 2009
This picture I post to paint a smile on your lips for the coming weekend. Look closely at the picture and notice an observer to the girls conversation…
A night at the call centre
Posted by Johanna in India, Popular culture on augusti 20th, 2009
I found the Chetan Bhagat bestseller “A night at the call centre” and I finished the book during one weekend only. What a great read! On the very first page Bhagat had gotten my attention, it is really a book that captures you and sweps you away. The story is about 5 young Indians working at a call centre in Gurgaon, but the book taught me not only about the Call centre phenomenon and the book’s five charachters. It also has a greater message about life, aims, and dreams. I think that we all have something in our lives that we want to change, but sometimes it is not easy to identify what makes you happy and what does not? It is easy to stay at a call centre because of the decent amount of money it pays, but true happiness and fulfillment in life, where does one find that? That is the deeper philosophical prospects of the book.
The characters in the book are all in a sense pampered by the stability and safety that their workstation in Gurgaon gives them, they work all night, when India sleeps and America is awake. There is a whole generation of Indians involved in this call centre-industry and I knew little of it before reading the book. It brings up globalisation, but indirectly, mostly I would say that the book addresses the fundamental in life. It is about happiness and fulfillment, and Bhagat encourages the reader to reflect on ones own life path while following the characters in the book. It is a great accomplishment to found a book this way. it is an original story. And a great one. I highly recommend this book!
The liminal music festival – an anthropological account
Posted by Johanna in Anthropology, Popular culture on augusti 6th, 2009
Sweden is a country of four seasons, when the summer is during June-Aug with a climate of 25 degrees Celsius. Many Swedes, are affected by the warm weather in a positive way, there is generally a lot of joyous occasions during this warmer season in Sweden. Most people have a couple of weeks paid holiday and those swedes who spend their holiday in Sweden, might go to summerhouses on the countryside, fishing, sunbathing, hanging out in parks, or at theme festivals. There are quite a few music festivals in Sweden.
I am a big city dweller, and this summer I went with a couple of friends to the deep woods of Swedish small town Arvika where there is a yearly music festival during the Swedish summer, I have visited a lot of music festivals before, and to enjoy live music during the summer is popular among the swedes. During the festival I made some observations, and based on my first-hand impressions I would argue for the the festival can be a liminal phase for the stressed modern human.
I understand the music festival as a modern day ritual where the norms and behavior are challenged. Many swedes have a daily life-routine, take care of their personal hygiene, eat and sleep regularly and have control over their lives. I argue that the Swedes “let loose” from these restraints and habits when going to a festival, maybe the intoxication is the main ingredient for the Swedes to let loose. The norms of swedishness is imbued with a “mind your own business”-attitude. We do not really approach or talk to strangers, we keep to ourselves. We are not unfriendly, but we are certainly not over-polite and chatty. During the festival anyhow, the swedes are extremely social, the norms of minding your own business does not apply. Most of the festival visitors does not sleep as much as they usually do, sleeping in tents that are extremely warm in the morning, and there is heavy alcohol consumption, and music played until 3 am in the morning.
The issue of hygiene is also an exception at the festival, hygiene is not a priority for many festival visitors, the tents are put up in meadows, which tend to be muddy when the tents are close together and many people walk about the tents. I would say that there is heavily drinking on the festival, the liminal phase of intoxication, many festival visitors have beer for breakfast, new encounters, sleep deprivation, dirty, and joy, are together making up the components for this experience. Deep in the Swedish woods, normal rules does not apply. The are many encounters at the festival, making of new friends and temporary or less temporary partners. I argue in this blog-entry that the festival visitors are and feel somewhat free from the shackles of society and the swedishness that we are forced to live up to during the year.
Hygiene, societal rules of behavior and the Swedish shyness is forgotten – everyone is a possible friend or partner for the night. Drinking and eating occur irregularly, there are no routines, just intoxication, by alcohol, music or simply the festival-feeling, the vibrant atmosphere creates a certain degree of high for the visitors. It is the feeling of the atmosphere that make up the liminality of the situation. I strongly recommend to experience this modern day ritual.
A little piece of an Indian market
This picture is from a market in South India, where these Henna-stamps are displayed. Handmade and carved in wood they are real pieces of art, and truly beautiful. Painting the hands with henna is a sign of festivity for Indian women. During weddning most the attending females are decorated with henna on their hands, the bride is wearing the most henna. Rubina Ali, child actress in Slumdog Millionarie, in the picture below, wore henna when she attended the Oscars is a contemporary example how henna decoration markes a festivity or important occation.
