Archive for the ‘India’ Category
Say it with a Bollywood song
Posted by Johanna in India, Popular culture on januari 2nd, 2010
I just watched Indias christmas Blockbuster 2009: “3 Idiots”. When the script was written by Chetan Bhagat, author of “A night at the call centre”, I was curios. As a Bollywood blockbuster from the film is interestingly enough to a large extent criticizing the competitivness of the the Indian education system. Furthermore it features India’s youth’s problems with the older generations expectations for their future careers.
This is something that the girls I met in Delhi when doing fieldwork also talked about, they stated that there is a hierarchy among the courses of education engineering is at the top of this hierarchy. The parents in the film all hope fort their sons to become engineers, they not only hope they have forced their children to take up this education. The sons own free will is marginalised and this is the sad truth for many youths in India.
Suicide rates among Indian students who fail to live up to the grading criteria is a problem that is brought up in the film. Viewing life as a “race” where winner takes all is the attitude that is nurtured at “The Imperial College of Engineering”, the school which the “three idiots” attends.
In 3 “idiots” Aamir Khan has the leading role. One of Aamir s lines in the film is something like “The grading systems is like a caste system where people are divided and kept separate”. I think it is a really interesting script writing and I highly recommend this film. Not only great story, also some nice songs and great acting by Aamir, Kareena Kapoor and also Boman Irani. The conclusion of the film is that the parents finally agree that what is right for their child is to do whatever the child him or her self want in life. The free choice of the individual is stressed throughout the film and I hope Indian parent or any other parents who think it is their full right to make choices for their grown children to think again.
I have previously argued in my blog that Bollywood Film often comes with societal critique and watch film “3 idiots” and you will see brilliantly put critique.
Desi girls documentary coming up 2010
I have been granted a scholarship to complete my documentary on the Desi Girls who figures in my thesis. The material has been residing in my drawer for almost exactly one year when I, earlier this week, received the letter of scholarship. I will spend the beginning of 2010 working on my documentary and I will share thoughts and ideas regarding it on my blog.
Happy holidays to you. And I am deeply grateful to my early Christmas gift Desi girl documentary will be presented in 2010.
Bhopal disaster 25 years ago today
The picture of today is a reminder of the people whose lives were lost in Bhopal today 25 years ago. I borrowed the the picture from SASNET webb.
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!
