Archive for the ‘Anthropology’ Category
AFK during July
Posted by Johanna in Anthropology on juli 7th, 2009
I am currently idle, having summerholidays somewhere in Sweden away from keyboard. Will continue blogging in August, please visit my blog then!!
The “we can do it” approach
Posted by Johanna in Anthropology, Gender, India on juni 23rd, 2009
India is interesting on so many levels. And I am fascinated by the strong “we can do it” approach that is present among the young women. “It” in this sense refers to meeting equality, meeting the men half-way on many levels of society. I have a deep interest in India and gender, therefore, for my master thesis in Anthropology I choose to conduct research in the vibrant globalized sphere of South Delhi - where gender roles are constantly being negotiated in the capital city which is moving with a high speed towards the future.
I am especially interested in the gender perspective in India today. Marriage has been and still is an important social institution in India. “A good marriage” is essential and to be a good wife is a desirable goal for many women in India. The young women I met in Delhi are well aware of what is considered desired female behaviour and they in many ways try to live up to this norm and to follow the social unwritten rules of what is considered desirable female behaviour. But even though they do have room for negotiating their role within the marriage institution.
I am fascinated by the strong “we can do it” approach – meaning match up to the men, become their equals within the society as such and specifically within the marriage institution. According to my informants, many Indian marriages are based on inequality, the man is often considered to be in charge of decisions. When the family units are becoming nuclear, breaking free from the extended family setting then new rules are negotiated between the spouses with no external power involved. With every generation comes change, and with every generation small changes are being made, my Delhi informants can see these changes in their parents and grandparents attitudes that differs on many levels from their own. Delhi women are moving at a high speed.
Even if the young women are restricted on many areas of the society – especially when it comes to moving freely in their own city after night falls. I admire their spirit! I wish them all the best in their struggle fuelled by their ‘we can do it’ approach. I am grateful that I had the privilege to meet some of these young women during my stay in Delhi at the end of year 2008.
Female space in Delhi
Posted by Johanna in Anthropology, Gender, India on juni 22nd, 2009
This is as extract from my fieldswork in Delhi; 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. Two of my informants, Yasmin and Preity, were present in the hall to see the Jagori1 documentary. The documentary makers were filming with a hidden camera at upper class market Saket 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 informants shared with me. In my thesis I show how my informants are aware of the normative behaviour that is ascribed to females and how they negotiate and challenge these norms on several levels. The data I have gathered during participant observation in Delhi is about being an upper middle-class girl. Based on what my informants told me, I would say that the Delhi society they describe in their experience is, to a large extent, gender segregated. Among my informants there is a cultural code of normative femininity; the good Indian girl. According to this cultural code women are among other things expected to stay indoors after night falls; an exception being if they are accompanied by a man. The street is to be considered safe in male company; the man defines the safe space for my informants.
Midsummer -Swedens’ fertility ritual
Posted by Johanna in Anthropology on juni 19th, 2009
Today the Midsummer festivities begins, Midsummers eve is always on a friday around the 20th of june. The celebration is normally a two-day ritual. On midsummer-friday the great midsummer-pole on the above picture, will be risen. The pole is placed in the centre of the festival-area, and there will be dancing around the pole, consumption of traditional food items, games, and Swedish schnapps. The dress code differs around Sweden, the typical capital-citizen would wear maybe a flowered patterns dress or a nice shirt. It is popular especially in the Dalarna community to wear traditional national costumes on this day. Children and adults tie flowers into a flower crown to put in their hair.
The ritual is a symbolic the celebration of summer, fertility and greenery. The pole is said to symbolise the fallos. As a young girl I used to pic seven different flowers to put under my pillow on the midsummer’s eve. The old saying is that if a unmarried girl does so, she will dream about her husband to be. This night is foll of energy in a sense it is the festivity of love, fertility and the flowers are in full bloom in this season.
Graduation
Posted by Johanna in Anthropology, India on juni 18th, 2009
So the day finally came, my Master thesis on gender negotiations among you middle class Delhi women is handed in and waiting to be graded as I write. The defence went smooth, I went into a sense of happiness when the teacher grading my paper made the comment: Its a strong paper. That sentence rang in my head for a good amount of time. The defence, the final handing in of the papers were causes for many celebration among my lovely classmates. Joy and a massive wave of tiredness has flushed us up on the shore. Applications for different jobs and different India related projects fill my days as a post-Master. And tomorrow one of Sweden’s greatest holidays takes place. Will describe that ritual in depth tomorrow.
