Archive for november, 2009
Remember Bhopal
It has been 25 years of denial, deceit, and injustice. The people who were injured when 40 tonnes of toxic waste, methyl isocyanate, leaked out from the US owned Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India has still not been compensated. Union Carbide was found to be faulted for the lack of safety at the factory which caused the disaster, and up to date the company refuses to take responsibility for their actions. I and many with me think that these actions are distasteful.
During the Human Rights fair at Älvsjömässan in Stockholm I met with Bhopal activists today. They told me what they have seen with their own eyes: people in Bhopal are still today suffering from the Corporation’s deeds: many are crippled, blind and in constant pain. Children are still born with skin diseases, limbs missing, and severe brain damages. Union Carbide, the company responsible for the Bhopal factory, left the premises after the disaster and did not clean up any toxic waste, but abandoned the factory.
In 2001 the company was taken over by Dow Chemical Company , and hence they are responsible for compensating the people whom they sacrificed for the cause of cheap labour and cheap but hazardous production. Trials, justice, compensation, rehabilitation and toxic waste management is what the Bhopal activist are fighting for. Read more about the activist struggle at The International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal and on Students For Bhopal websites. And please Boycott Dow Chemical company until justice is made! Everyone has consumer power.
Desi Girls – MA thesis available
Posted by Johanna in Anthropology, Gender, India on november 10th, 2009
My MA dissertation on Delhi girls “Desi Girls – a stydy of young urban middle class girls’ expressions and negotiations of gender” is now to be found online, feel free to download and spread! Thank you.
Just click on this link, and you need to search for the title Desi girls in the first field.
Abstract:
This thesis attempts to understand how gender is expressed and negotiated in the everyday lives of young urban girls in South Delhi. To approach the topic of gender I engaged in participant observation including semi-structured interviews and spending time with young middle-class girls during two months in Delhi at the end of 2008. The girls I encountered in the field are all college students in a phase of transition; being young, educated and of marriageable age.
In constructing a body of knowledge with a foundation in the theoretical framework of discourse analysis, I illustrate how institutions like marriage, family, societal norms, space, and relations between the sexes are juxtaposed in the area of gender. This thesis reveals how gender identity is constructed not as individual accounts, but as juxtapositions of perspectives of individual agency and manifestations of discourses.
Marriage in Delhi is commonly arranged by the parents and is considered a union in which gender needs to be re-negotiated. Aware of the patriarchal ethos imbuing their society, the informants are preparing for the after-marriage talk. After marriage their individual freedom lies in the hands of their husbands, therefore they intend to negotiate with their husbands-to-be to have a marriage based on equality.
Being a Desi girl is a paradox: on one hand they want to be good girls – subservient, humble and obedient – but on the other hand they are negotiating and challenging the normative behaviour when it comes to issues like marriage, go out pubing, or to talking back to their parents. In this thesis, I investigate the societal femininity discourse and the possible discrepancy between the discourse and the actual behaviour. I have concluded that the concept of negotiation plays a key role in the Delhi girls’ constructions of gender.
Key words: Delhi, Gender, Girls, Middle class, Discourse analysis
Birthday of a great Indian symbol
Posted by Johanna in India, Popular culture on november 5th, 2009
My all time favourite Bollywood actor, Shahrukh Khan ( शाहरुख़ ख़ान ) turned 44 this week, on Nov 2. I am happy to congratulate him on his work in my blog. For all of you who are unfamiliar with Bollywood, this is the man you need to see act. This is my top 5 Shahrukh Khan performances: Kal Ho Na Ho, Veer Zaara, Don, KKKG and Devdas.
As previously argued, Bollywood occupies a special place in the hearts of many Indians. An Indian friend once told me “Well Western films, Hollywood, their strongest part is the technical part. In Bollywood, the strongest part is the emotional parts of the film”. This man have made about a billion people cry, laugh and sing. An that is why I call him a symbolic representation of Bollywood. Happy Birthday SRK!
Offended in the Stockholm metro
Posted by Johanna in Popular culture on november 4th, 2009
In the Stockholm metro I saw a huge poster this morning, it is an ad for the forthcoming film “2012 Doomsday” which is coming up in cinemas in December. In the ad there is a huge a picture of Cristo Redentor falling to the ground, about to crush thousands of people. I could not find this picture by Googling the title. Is it only me, or is this poster highly offensive? I doubt strongly that this poster is hung up in Rio De Janeiro,and since I could not find it by google, I strongly doubt that is is used worldwide. Portraying this important statue and symbol of religion like this is not very appropriate in my liking. What do you think?
PhD in Vampire cults
Posted by Johanna in Anthropology, Popular culture on november 3rd, 2009
For students of anthropology everywhere, its time for a television series. The series “Moonlight” from 2007 features in its first episodes an eclectic professor of Social Anthropology, who achieved his PhD in Vampire cults. In the series he has started his own “Study group” in the basement of the University where he teach, but this study group is a cover for his very own blood cult. The Professor believes he is a vampire, even though he is not. So take this as an example; tooo much engaging in your PhD dissertation and you can become the study!
