Social Trends, Vol. 12
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://ir.nbu.ac.in/handle/123456789/5633
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Item Open Access Life in an Alien Culture: A Note in Self-Reflection(University of North Bengal, 2025) Sharma, Niyati RekhaThe present paper draws its inspiration from Aristotle’s declaration that man is a social animal who is incapable of living in isolation. It begins with my encounter with a place called Mahishadal, and digs into my personal journey, which led to the process of shaping and developing a sense of a ‘self ’. The paper is presented as a narrative of self-reflective and autobiographical writing, which gives an account of my new journey and shared experiences in a chronological order. It attempts to comprehend and explore everyday life practices through the description of a few incidents, focusing on the challenges and hardships I had to go through to be socially accepted in a different cultural setting. The paper narrates the dialectical phase of my journey, the experience of isolation, alienation, frustration and the moments of conforming partially to fit into the framework of ‘generalised others’. I am to unfold the process of mundane experience of interaction with both the ‘self ’ and socio-cultural environment, which has led to the development of my present identity. The paper explores the constant negotiation of ‘self ’ and social belonging, which offers an insight into the continuous interaction that showcases the individual’s survival in a new cultural milieu.Item Open Access Inclusion-Exclusion Game: The Case of the Kami, Damai and Sarki in Sikkim(University of North Bengal, 2025) Bhutia, Pema ChokiThe Kami, Damai and Sarki caste-communities of Sikkim are traditionally viewed as the ‘untouchables’, who find their place in the lowest rungs of the Nepali caste hierarchy. According to The Constitution (Sikkim) Scheduled Castes Order, 1978, the only Kami, Damai and Sarki who are classified as Scheduled Castes (SCs) are those who practice Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism. However, the Kami, Damai and Sarki who follow Christianity or lack a Certificate of Identification (COI) are not included in the aforementioned category and are unable to obtain a Scheduled Caste (SC) certificate. While reservation and protective discrimination are in place to uplift the marginalised communities, such efforts and policies will never fully be efficacious when all the sections of the marginalised are not included in the schedule. One of the key goals of the “Reservation Policy” is upward social mobility, but including some and excluding others leads to a lopsided upliftment. Those sections of Kami, Damai and Sarki who are not a part of the SC category cannot avail the benefits of reservation in education, jobs, etc., therefore, they do not just face the caste exclusion and discrimination but are also administratively deprived. Based on the data drawn from fieldwork in Mellidara-Paiyong GPU South, Sikkim, the present paper attempts to explain the challenges faced by the Kami, Damai and Sarki who are excluded from the SC category and how this administrative exclusion translates in their everyday life. By making use of case studies, the paper seeks to highlight how everyday life experiences and interactions are impacted by inclusion in and exclusion from the Scheduled Caste Category.Item Open Access Growing up in Unfreedom: A Reflection on the Childhood Memories of Urban Middle-Class Women(University of North Bengal, 2025) Roy, SinjiniUnfreedom, cruelty, domination, and violence exist in disguise as ‘normal’ in our everyday life in social relations, in the process of growing up of children of all classes; their nature of manifestation and reasons, however, vary depending on economic, social and cultural conditions of the population. The middle class in India is located in a context which is fundamentally different from the context of the other classes, the poor and the rich. The Indian middle class now is educated, enjoys a degree of material affluence, lives in small and nuclear families, and is ambitious yet ridden with uncertainties and risks embedded in the neo-liberal social-economic order. The middle-class children in India thus grow up under the close care of their informed and conscious parents who operate in a narrow terrain of traditional normative patterns and the pressure of competition for career opportunities in the market economy. While bringing up their children, the parents consciously or unconsciously enforce their will in their children with authoritarian vigour in the name of care and support in making a successful career for them, without engaging their children in free dialogue. Growing up in such a conditioned terrain, the children, when they learn to live with agencies, realise that they lived a life of unfreedom.Item Open Access Nepali Migrant Porters in Sikkim(University of North Bengal, 2025) Gurung, VivekaIndia has remained a favoured destination of work for many migrants hailing from rural areas of far western and eastern Nepal. Among these migrants, there are some who move towards the larger metro cities in the heartland and others who travel to smaller hilly states to sell their labour. One such group are the Nepali immigrants working as porters in Sikkim. They have a historical presence and are deeply ingrained in the state economy. However, due to the Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1950 signed between the two nations, they are classified as neither local nor foreign workers in India. Such ambiguity makes their labour status unclear and exposes them to exploitation, leaving them unprotected under labour laws. Despite facing several predicaments, these workers can exist in congruence with the host community and make a decent livelihood. The study views these migrants as social actors who can navigate through their adversities of working as unskilled labour in a politically debilitating set-up by utilising their social capital and forming social networks in everyday life to sustain themselves as well as remit to their families. The study uses primary data collected via an interview schedule with the Nepali migrants working as porters, as well as the members of the host area in Gangtok and Namchi districts of Sikkim. Secondary information is collected from relevant articles and journals.Item Open Access Calcutta as a Site of Post-colonial Identity Formation: Interactions and Experiences of the Anglo-Indian Community(University of North Bengal, 2025) Das, SuchismitaThe Anglo-Indian community of Calcutta, a product of British colonial rule, occupies a unique cultural and social space within the city. Historically positioned between the British and Indian populations, they developed distinct identity markers such as the English language, Christianity, Western attire, and cuisine. However, their identity has never been static; rather, it has undergone significant transformations, particularly in postcolonial Calcutta. This paper explores how the Anglo-Indian community of Calcutta navigates its identity in a postcolonial urban landscape, engaging with issues of cultural hybridity, spatial belonging, and social adaptation. Through an ethnographic lens, the study examines the evolving identity markers of Anglo-Indians in the city, highlighting the impact of migration, cultural assimilation, and interactions with the dominant Bengali Hindu and Muslim communities. Everyday spaces such as neighbourhoods, churches, schools, and workplaces serve as sites where their identity is negotiated and performed. The paper discusses how language use, dress patterns, food habits, and social practices reflect a process of adaptation and localisation while still retaining elements of their colonial heritage. It also addresses how the challenges of identity labelling and stereotyping influence both internal self-perception and external social integration. Drawing from postcolonial theories and urban ethnography, the study argues that the Anglo-Indian identity in Calcutta is neither fixed nor easily defined. Instead, it remains fluid, shaped by historical legacies, contemporary social realities, and individual agency.Item Open Access Introspecting the Gendered Body through Women’s Everyday Experiences(University of North Bengal, 2025) Rai, SunainaIn the modern somatic upsurge, women’s bodies remain trapped in the idealised body images and beauty standards endorsed by the dominant media, beauty industries and fitness centres. Arguably, the process of curating the body ideal, as well as the awareness and practice of the perfect among the women, styles the body as highly gendered. The body manipulation related to the need to fit into the dominant body ideal makes physical control over the body central in determining the body image and self-identity. Mannerism, disciplining, and monitoring the woman’s body remain a prominent practice in almost all societies. The feminisation of the fashion, beauty and fitness industries/gym culture enables women to bargain in innumerable ways with their bodies. Against this backdrop, the paper reflects on the interactions made with women from various groups in Sikkim, including those based on age, ethnic community, level of education, and economic background. It explores how individuals subjectively experience their bodies in everyday life. The paper also highlights how women are negotiating the experiences of the body and beauty ideals, employing their agency to create a fit between the unvarnished body and the dominant body image.Item Open Access Integrating Sowa Rigpa into the Public Healthcare system in Ladakh(University of North Bengal, 2025) Mathur, Ajitesh; Swain, Pranaya KumarThis study attempts to examine Sowa Rigpa, a traditional medicinal system practised in the Himalayan regions of India and its integration in the public healthcare system. Drawing from semi-structured interviews with the practitioners, educators and administrators of Sowa Rigpa Institutes of Ladakh, the study brings to the fore the transition of Sowa Rigpa from a traditional medicinal system to a recognised and institutionalised healthcare system post its recognition in 2010 by the Government of India. This study also highlights how the stakeholders, including the Amchis and the administrators, have navigated the changes and challenges, and their social, cultural and political implications. Findings indicate the multifaceted nature of integration, where Sowa Rigpa and its institutionalisation can be seen as not just a mere inclusion in the mainstream healthcare system, but a process that has reinforced the legitimacy of its practitioners and their holistic approach to healthcare.Item Open Access Of Debt and the Spectrality of the Donor Organ Tracing the Dynamics of market and morality in organ donation(University of North Bengal, 2025) Roy, PinakiMyriad possibilities can be traced into the situated narratives of individuals who are exposed to the experiences characteristic of organ failure, donation and transplantation. Such narratives are replete with meanings which offer alternative possibilities of tracing the parallel co-existence or mutual inter-implication of the forces of moral and market valuation of human bodies and organs in the context of organ donation and transplantation. Ethnographic encounter with the suffering of individuals with organ failure and their care-givers, and the quest for remedy through organ transplantation, foregrounds the impossibility of thinking empirical instances of subjective, bodily experiences of suffering irrespective of the dynamic presence of human body and organs across multiple registers of valuation – the market and the moral-ethical, the economic and the non-economic, the utilitarian and the experiential. The category of debt (riin in Bengali), as it pervasively emanates from the ethnographic context of organ failure and donation and the discursive milieu or locale of the study, to be more specific, renders this dynamic more prominent and serves as the conceptual and methodological lynchpin in the analysis.Item Open Access Biological Science under a Totalitarian Regime: The Case of the Third Reich(University of North Bengal, 2025) Saha, AnjanThe pursuit of scientific knowledge and discovery is often presumed to be a neutral and apolitical endeavour. However, the darker chapters of History reveal a more complex reality. Under the Third Reich of Hitler, the biological scientists were co-opted to serve the sinister goals of the Nazi State. Scientists and Researchers, often driven by ambition and Nationalism, became complicit in the perpetuation of heinous crimes against humanity. This essay delves into the chilling tale of how biological science was perverted to justify the atrocities of the Third Reich, serving as a stark reminder of the dangers of science unhinged from ethics, morality and humanity.Item Open Access ‘Witch-Hunting’ among the Adivasis in three Northern Districts of West Bengal(University of North Bengal, 2025) Mukhopadhyay, Rajat SubhraThe present paper gives an account of the still existing practice of witch-hunting found among the Adivasis in three districts of North Bengal, namely Malda, Uttar Dinajpur and Dakshin Dinajpur. Based on interviews, case studies and other sets of supplementary data obtained from secondary sources, the paper examines the problem of witch-hunting among the Adivasis in the area from a gender perspective while recording the incidents of violence against women.