Social Trends, Vol. 06

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://ir.nbu.ac.in/handle/123456789/3539

EDITOR'S NOTE

Dear friends,


A hearty welcome to the website of Social Trends, The Journal of the Department of Sociology of North Bengal University (www.socialtrendsnbu.in). The journal made a humble beginning in 2014 and since then it has achieved some important landmarks, becoming a full-fledged refereed/peer-reviewed journal with UGC’s approval. We have published five volumes by now, one each year. In last three years there has been a gradual surge in inflow of articles and research papers from across disciplines. Though the journal has largely been a platform for the young scholars, there have been some notable contributions from celebrated members of the Indian social science fraternity too, rendering much support to us.

The Social Trends is on a mission to capture the fluid, hitherto unrecorded aspects of subjective and collective experiences in an unconventional language, while dialogically engaging with the social science discourses. We also carry forward the conviction that dialectical discourses impact the individual and collective actions and the actions, in turn, bring about changes in the discourses. It is always a delight to see that we are collectively transcending the limits of conventional academic disciplines in capturing the heterogeneous, multi-dimensional intricacies of dialectically moving self and the lifeworld. It is even more delightful to see young scholars enthusiastically participate in this promising endeavour. I would put it on record that our academic collaboration with the Research Committee (RC) on Sociology of Everyday Life of the Indian Sociological Society (ISS) has proved to be immensely beneficial, as both sides prosper in this collaboration.

The valuable counsel of the advisers, the critical comments of the referees, the active interest of the editorial team, and most importantly, the enthusiastic participation of the writers as well as readers always add value to the journal. I am sure, we will cross many more milestones in future and take the journal to new heights.

Sanjay K. Roy
31 March 2019

 

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 20
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    A Journey from the Periphery to the Core of Middleclassness
    (University of North Bengal, 2019-03) Roy, Sanjay K
    The bourgeois democratic societies of Western and Indian forms always provide some free space using which an individual can move through ranks. One such movement or social mobility could be from rural lowermiddleclass position to the urban middleclass position. One can leave the struggling days on the margins behind to move to the affluence and social recognition that urban middleclassness offers. The present paper is an autonarrative of such as journey of a “refugee” child to the core of middleclass culture in West Bengal.
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    Cross Cultural Marriages and the Problem of Adjustment in Conjugal Life
    (University of North Bengal, 2019-03) Chhetri, Chandrani
    India is a multicultural society and in the era of globalization people have become more mobile. Love relation among the members representing different cultures is becoming common. But societies and cultures being patriarchal, it is the women who have to make sacrifices and go through the painful process of learning and unlearning cultures. When the husbands extend all support, the wives manage to make the necessary adjustments but when the husbands do not stand by their struggling wives the marriages develop unreconcilable fissures.
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    Negotiating Social Security through Network Building: A Study of the Livelihoods of Resident Caretakers in the new Metropolis of Kolkata
    (University of North Bengal, 2019-03) Ghosh, Anamitra
    The “resident caretakers”, who constitute a distinct category of indentured labor in the newly emerging urban metropolises of India, have remained a relatively neglected component of research in the field of sociology of labor relations, and therefore they rightfully deserve meticulous attention from the scholars. The present study explores the patterns of migration and resettlement of this category of urban labour force in one of the major suburban cities of Kolkata as an attempt to uncover the process of their absorption into the urban informal sector. The growing number of these indentured laborers in the urban informal sector in India has remained marginalized and denied most of their rights that are given to the formal sector workers. The present paper thus intends to examine this issue as a redresser to the problem of social security among these urban contractual laborers that is multiplying every day in the major cities of West Bengal with the development of the new towns, confiscating boundaries of the upper middle class. The study uses ethnographic case accounts drawn from qualitative face-to-face interviews that draw attention to their livelihood patterns and the vignettes of their network building processes through the derivative component of social capital that is constantly been generated in specific interactional contexts. This in the long run builds together in maintaining a constant sense of identity, personal wellbeing and social recognition of their form of labor in a relatively “negotiated” social space.
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    Bel Bibaha Among the Newars and its Social Significance
    (University of North Bengal, 2019-03) Mangar, Ritu
    The Newars are a fairly complex group, speaking Nepali and Newari, the two languages ofIndo-Aryan and a Tibeto-Burmese linguistic group, respectively. The Newars are the oldest among the communities that had settled down in the Kathmandu valley, long back and the majority of them still live there. The Newars distinguish themselves from the dominant Brahmin-Chettris, the Nepali upper castes, in terms of culture. The two important rituals, among many others, that distinguish the Newars from other communities are Ihi and Barha. These rituals, in the mould of “primitive” practice of nature worship, mark two critical junctures in the lives of women. The literal meaning of Ihi is marriage to a belfruit (wood apple) and it is a ceremony of immense social and religious significance to the Newars especially the females. The Ihi ceremony is looked at with high veneration by the Newars.The paper highlights the social significance of the ceremony, the rituals that afre performed, the reasons behind its practice and the changes that have come about with the passage of time.
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    Masculinized Strategic Studies: It’s Impact on the Daily Discourse of Security Policies
    (University of North Bengal, 2019-03) Shayesta Nishat Ahmed
    The paper deliberates on addressing the question as to how the masculine streak in the security structure appears as “normal” and why does it get normalized in the security structure. It would look into how the shortcomings of the conventional perceptions and decision-making have impacted the national security concerns of the state as it is generally taken for granted that the national security discourses are built along the lines of masculinist high politics. The military bend of International Relations working in close quarters with disciplines like Security Studies, comes up with a subdued response to the numerous hurdles in the security of humans and the environment. The paper is divided into four parts; the first part attempts at looking into the background and defining the concept of “masculinity”; masculinity in international security studies and at the different variants of masculinity and the different layers of masculinist traditions that are spread across the spectrum. In the second part, the paper looks at the absorption of qualitative masculinist attributes that permeate the discipline of international security studies. In the third part, the paper examines the military bend of masculinity in security studies. The fourth and the final part of the paper talks about how the masculinist trend plays a role in promoting the gendered biases against both the male and female victims in the light of the eschewed gendered security policies.
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    Changing Dynamics of Family Roles: Sharing Experiences from Everyday Life
    (University of North Bengal, 2019-03) Bhutia, Winkeyla
    Statistics regarding the participation of the women at work in Sikkim has been encouraging. Factors like education, employment opportunities, reservation in employment, education and political bodies have combined to achieve this. However, the increase in work participation of women also calls for a reorganization of the various roles within the household. Based on my experience as a working woman in an urban setting, this paper attempts to throw light on the changes in the relations within the family in an urban Bhutia household vis-à-vis an earlier situation in a Bhutia family while also exploring the stresses and changes resulting changes in the larger social structure.
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    Informal Settlements: A Study of Displaced Living in a Kolkata Slum
    (University of North Bengal, 2019-03) Palit, Kahini
    In the absence of a sound planning for the ever-growing population and soaring real-estate prices in the city of Kolkata, a large number of people, ranging from labourers in the informal sector to those who migrated to the city in search of means of subsistence, are forced to live in informal settlements, as encroachers of government lands, subject to eviction whenever the government feels like cleaning up or developing urban facilities like flyovers or green parks. Such evictions often do not offer any compensation, let alone rehabilitation. In most cases, the argument made by the authorities for not providing rehabilitation is that the inhabitants were illegal encroachers and did not possess any legal documents. Again, rehabilitation provided by the government in distant places away from the city fails to serve its purpose, since without income generating infrastructure in the relocated area, the new settlers are forced to come back to the city and set up new informal settlements, as the city offers livelihood opportunities.
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    Childbirth Practices and Midwifery: Exploring Social Changes in Indian Context
    (University of North Bengal, 2019-03) Sharma, Rukmani
    Healthy women represent health standards of any nation, although the maternal health care throughout the world is severely damaged. The paper discusses changes in the social location of Dais and their socio-cultural roles over the decades till the contemporary society. Many scholars have brought to light the way politics of knowledge works, and how the knowledge based on experience, skill, insights and culture is denounced. State has taken several measures in maternal health care but has failed in yielding good results. The paper tires to compare birth practices in different parts of India and tries to evaluate the reasons behind the similarities and differences. Three major areas of the problem have been located in childbirth practices. First, despite of government measures the rural and poor women continue to face discrimination in the maternal health care, particularly those who depend on unskilled birth attendants; second, the over-medicalization of childbirth; and third, the continued practice of homebirth.
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    Identity Crisis in a Cross-cultural Paradox: My Experience
    (University of North Bengal, 2019-03) Bhutia, Sonam Choden
    “Identity” is a sum total of perceptions one accepts, imbibes and is fostered on by the society. It is related to both ascribed and acquired social constructs like caste, class, religion and language. Though caste, class, religion are important components of a person’s identity it is through language that the unique ethnic, social, religion and cultural identity is expressed. Language in both written and spoken form is the factor that binds other components of a person’s identity and it is crucial for cultural preservation. Related to the issue of cultural preservation, one finds the role of language especially in case of Tibetan identity. Despite the Chinese insistence that Tibet has always been a part of China, the Tibetan religion, customs, culture and language preserve distinctive features supporting the right to self-determination and independence. In exile, Tibetans under the guidance of His Holiness Dalai Lama have been successful in keeping their identity alive. However, in the recent times, the fear of losing their identity is specially felt when there is a shift away from Tibetan language; with many scattered around the world the Tibetans are under pressure to adopt languages other than their mother tongue. Sociologically, it is stated that endogamous marriage helps in preserving racial purity and culture. Tibetans marrying outside the community face many challenges of which one is the problem of identity. As a daughter of Tibetan father, a Bhutanese mother and the wife of a Sikkimese Bhutia, the confusion arises as to where I, as an individual, stand and face Identity crisis in certain situations in my everyday life. Starting from my experience as a person faced with multiple identity “tags”, the paper attempts to bring forth issues and dilemmas of identity faced by children of mixed parentage. It also highlights the challenges and issues of identity that come up in inter-community marriages.