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Open Access
Culture shock at universities : suburban students and their experience of marginality
(University of North Bengal, 31-03-2017) Bhowmick, Arunima
Marginality is a condition of disadvantaged individuals and communities that arises due to unfavourable environmental, cultural, social, political and economic factors. The vulnerable situation that they confront can be either societal or spatial, very often, both. This paper seeks to understand predicaments and vulnerabilities of students coming to universities in metropolitan Kolkata from the margins of the city, more often referred to as the “suburbs”. The study is an attempt to relook marginality in the face of globalisation and dissect the context of regionalism in this light. The study has gathered strength from case studies of students coming to universities from these regions and an account of their conditions and sense of discrimination has been recorded. Their sense of marginality finds manifestation in difference of language, more precisely their speech and diction, fashion and most importantly lifestyle. Tracing the origin of the concept of marginality back to the one who coined it, Robert Ezra Park (1928), young students were found placed between multiple cultures and their negotiations give rise to a “hybrid” personality or the marginal man. Students from suburbs might not necessarily have pronounced class differences with the local residential students, but their possession of “cultural capital” and further access to it in the universities often become a ripe condition for furthering marginalization. Finally, the paper engages in addressing the vital question — whether to uphold “affirmative action” and support the marginal status, or create a collective of poorly privileged?
Open Access
Discourse formation and praxis in everyday life
(University of North Bengal, 31-03-2017) Roy, Sanjay K.
In sociology, and in other social sciences, we generally talk about others, while keeping absolutely mum about ourselves. The result is so called “objective” (in most cases manipulated) “scientific” dispassionate “texts”1 which obscure the reality and do not help enriching our collective wisdom. Subjective knowledge (in Weberian sense), drawn by applying reflexive or autobiographical method, which is usually given no respect in the so-called scientific tradition, could be an alternative mode of doing sociology. Discourses in sociology and other social sciences could be drawn from lived experiences, with high degree of embeddedness, which would help understand the dynamics of everyday life social praxis better.
Open Access
Lepcha dress : marker of cultural identity
(University of North Bengal, 31-03-2017) Roy, D. C.
The unique and typical Lepcha dress is one of the important markers of their cultural identity. The pattern or design of Lepcha dress is sober and elegant.The length and style are gentle and weather friendly. The accessories are simple and need based. All materials and accessories of Lepcha dress are locally available and eco-friendly. Weaving and dying are done most systematically and scientifically. Lepcha women are good weavers and they acquire the skill of weaving all parts of both male and female dress as part of their socialization.
Open Access
Sociological view of management of health of the migrant workers in kolkata nibedita bayen
(University of North Bengal, 31-03-2017) Bayen, Nibedita
Kolkata, the economic capital of eastern India, attracts skilled and semi-skilled labourers, who migrate for a living. The migrants include sex workers, taxi drivers, shoemakers, porters, rickshaw pullers and child labourers. They migrate from Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and different regions of West Bengal. Migrants, who migrate by taking the help of a village migration network, usually take shelter in slum areas. Such places are identified by the city administration as places of extra attention to prevent outbreak of diseases. The municipal corporation puts in place a robust malaria control plan in the city. The present paper would analyse how migrant labourers are governed by the city administration as a part of its malaria-control drive and how the perceptions of health and illness of these migrant labourers change in the process.
Open Access
Rabindranath’s idea of alienation : interpretation of raktakarabi
(University of North Bengal, 31-03-2017) Ghosh, Sayantan
Pen of the social thinker Rabindranath Tagore reflects the pain of human beings in any social order that is exploitative and alienating, be it industrial capitalism or traditional religious order. He was in favour of cooperation - cooperation in production, cooperation in consumption and cooperation in celebration. He advocated reaching the state of “Ananda”/happiness – creative happiness and collective happiness. He criticised any social order that alienates man from the product he produces, from other human beings and from his own creative self. He emphasised on the role of senses in alienation. This paper would try to outline Tagore’s idea of alienation and the process of liberation of an alienated self to humane self. This concept is reflected in many of his writings but this paper would particularly focus on Raktakarabi. Regarding the idea of alienation, there are certain similarities between Tagore and Marx but there also exists significant uniqueness in Rabindrik philosophy.
Open Access
Tuberculosis in India : is it just a medical problem?
(University of North Bengal, 31-03-2017) Barman, Paramita
India features among the 30 High Tuberculosis (TB) Burden Countries that together accounted for 87 per cent of the global TB burden in 2015 in terms of the highest estimated number of incident TB cases (Global TB Report, WHO 2016), despite the prolonged operation of a disease-specific, focused national health program in the country to address TB and considerable expansion of TB care services. The disease is believed to be strongly correlated to socioeconomic gradients of the population. Also, the contagious nature of pulmonary TB coupled with misconceptions is often the source of strong social stigma that impacts health-seeking behaviour of individuals. This paper tries to track down from literature factors that might be partially offsetting the success of the conventional “diagnosis and treatment” based efforts to curb the disease in India.
Open Access
Everyday life of the jewellery karigars in siliguri : case study
(University of North Bengal, 31-03-2017) Raha, Sylvia
The conventional predominance of the Bengali Swarnakars in jewellery making is on the wane as the non-Bengali karigars are taking their place. Making jewellery is no longer a caste occupation in the Hindu social order as non-swarnakars are also finding a place in the craft. Counted in the informal sector the karigars are subjected to the crudest form of exploitation which leads to their alienation at work place. The elements of estrangement pervade their family and social life.
Open Access
Sharit K. Bhowmik : teacher, my friend
(University of North Bengal, 31-03-2017) Roy, Sanjay K.
Open Access
Journeys of the self: everyday and the question of ethics
(University of North Bengal, 31-03-2017) Roy, Pinaki
In this paper, I talk about my journeys, along different routes, at different points or moments in life. Journey here is conceived of in dual sense. I speak of physical journeys – journeys which transport us from one spatial and temporal locale to another and simultaneously invoke the conception of life as a journey. We encounter moments of ethical crises, both in the physical journeys and in the journey called life. Ethical living and ethical action, the universal prescriptions guiding them and the particular contexts and modes of ethical articulation are significant aspects of our everyday life. It is in the context of the everyday that we negotiate these moments of ethical crises. This paper is composed of such moments from my own life, from my own journeys.
Open Access
Lower caste movement and the idea of social equality under the raj : jyotirao phule and maratha renaissance
(University of North Bengal, 31-03-2017) Sengupta, Shilajit
Post-Colonial Indian state was fraught with high level of caste discrimination, illiteracy, agricultural failures and many such grimy situations which now partially have been addressed by systematic and strategic planning since 1951. Considering the vastness and incredibly heterogeneous demography of the nation bringing in social equality by eradicating caste hierarchy, education for all and agricultural development policies are the key areas where India has been performing well unlike other South Asian countries of third world. The seed of the idea behind many such policies especially in development of mass education was sown by great Indian thinker Jyotirao Govindrao Phule. In primary and higher education for masses, right to the farmers and the true realization of a just and egalitarian society which would be neither caged under the clutches of foreign rulers nor dominated by hierarchically structured class and caste based Hindu society this erudite Marathi Activist-Writer- Thinker has made commendable contribution. Phule’s work brought an era of renaissance which gave voice to the lower caste marginalized population unlike the mainstream upper caste-bourgeois led nationalist movement which failed to include the age old cultural and social deprivation of sudras and untouchables of the land. This article will focus on Phule’s view on social reform during mid and late 19th century colonial India which later influenced emancipatory movements of lower caste people and their struggle for social equality in Independent India.
Open Access
Vulnerability of the aged in india and their rights
(University of North Bengal, 31-03-2017) Roy, Sinjini
The aged constitute a vulnerable section of society, since they lose authority, live alone losing their spouses, often materially dependent, ailing and no more physically active. Frail health, ailments, loss of spouse, dispersal of family members, loss of economic independence and authority make the elderly “dependent”, “burden” and insecure. Atrocities, in the form of ill-treatment, cheating, robbing of property, infringement of rights, physical and mental harm, murder, and other forms of crime against the elderly by the family members and kin and by the larger society is common all over the world; India is no exception. When the families are smaller in size and the younger members disperse because of professional compulsions the elderly are left alone as the family support system grows weaker. The atrocities against the elderly, whose contribution to the society can hardly be overstated, and are rich in human resources, are being documented and reported in the “texts”. The global and national bodies, the academia and policy makers, are coming out with innovative ideas to address these problems. Drawing from the available studies I have, in the present paper, highlighted the nature of atrocities that are done to the elderly members in India and have reviewed the policies that have been put in place to address their problems and protect their rights. What matters in the present-day context is to give them their due and to protect their rights.
Open Access
Everyday social relation : feminist reading
(University of North Bengal, 31-03-2017) Chakraborty, Jhuma; Basu, Sritama
The relations, even in a middleclass urban educated nuclear family, can be complex when all the members of a three-member family have strong and unique agencies, andhave different perceptions of life. All three, absolutely reasonable caring human beings, live with a sense of alienation, with a perpetual grudge that the other two do not understand him/her. None of them are happy. The three-dimensional relationship, apparently simple, yet, deep down, is very complex. The complexity of relations disturbs the three members because they truly love one another. This paper endeavours to provide a possible solution to this problem from a feminist perspective.
Open Access
Teaching culture, transforming selves : insight into life-skill lessons offered at government schools
(University of North Bengal, 31-03-2020) Bhowmick, Arunima
There is naivety in considering that the awareness imparted on a desired lifestyle, health, hygiene and emphasis of its higher cultural value always goes down as planned, without any dissent. There are always contradictions between the idealized training and the socio-cultural context of the students expected to learn and practice the same in their everyday lives. Thus, values circumscribing suitable lifestyle seek validation by undermining an opposite set of values, guided by several socio-cultural and politico-economic considerations. This paper at large will make attempts to surface this majoritarian and universal control over value education that exists even today, standing at the crossroads of neo-liberal economies and liberal democratic political formations. It will also try to flag occasions ripe with possibilities for resistance to a given moral order from the subjective/subaltern experiences.
Open Access
Reformist movement in india : analysis of the role of sant kabir in bhakti tradition
(University of North Bengal, 31-03-2020) Kumar, Ramesh
Open Access
Travails with motherhood : auto-ethnographic exploration of being a mother
(University of North Bengal, 31-03-2020) Chatterjee, Ananya
Motherhood is as much as a sociological as a biological and physiological construct. Each and every human society has its values, ideas, duties and responsibilities attached to mothering and motherhood. Even though the concept of family is changing with the emergence of alternative forms to traditional patriarchal family, the raising of children is still perceived to be the sole responsibility of the mother. The expectation that women will become mothers, forms part of the normative discourses governing motherhood which construct women’s sexuality and identity through their reproductive function. Cultural representations of the idealised and sometimes “yummy” mummy (middle class, attractive, healthy, sexy and heterosexual) contrast with depictions of ‘bad’ mothers proliferate in the popular press. The ideal mother is constructed as selfless, nurturing, subsuming their own needs to attend to their children’s demands. The motherhood experience of the working mothers often deviates from the dominant model of motherhood. In their experience of alternative motherhood, they are often marginalised in their family and close kin circle which holds on to the patriarchal definition of motherhood. In this autoethnographic essay I have explored how my experience of motherhood has redefined my identity of mother while passing through a course of negotiations and conflicts with the idealized standards.
Open Access
Significance of brata rituals in the life of the married women in rural bengal significance of brata rituals in the life of the married women in rural bengal
(University of North Bengal, 31-03-2020) Gupta, Anuja
Brata is an age-old religious ritual practiced by women of West Bengal. It has its roots in the totemic cults of the aboriginals of this land. Brata finds reverberation in the identity that it ascribes to women as being the Su-Grihini and care- giver of her family. In the present day, community jubilations buttressed by the perception of Dharma provides legitimacy to Brata that makes it an omnipresent ritual. In this paper, I attempt to underscore an anthropological and cultural perspective of Brata and understand its significance in the religious life of married women in rural Bengal.
Open Access
Journeys to autumn
(University of North Bengal, 31-03-2020) Chakraborty, Jhuma
In this paper I have revisited my own experiences from almost a third person’s perspective. I have explored my journey from my childhood till the autumn of my life. This is the time when we look back and can give new meanings to our lived experiences. Being a student of philosophy, I failed to free myself from the philosophical views that i have inculcated consciously or unconsciously. I am deeply influenced by Tagore’s essentialism and Simone’s (Simone de Beauvoir) existentialism, where existence precedes our essence. Interestingly the above-mentioned views are opposed to each other for both the theories revolve round the concept of ‘freedom’ which is very different in these two conceptual frameworks. I have interpreted the dialogical and dialectical evolvement of myself mostly through the lens of these two philosophers.
Open Access
Body and ornaments : reflection on ghurye’s perspective
(University of North Bengal, 31-03-2020) Raha, Sylvia
G. S.Ghurye, one of the founders of Indian Sociology, wrote on an unconventional subject like “Indian Costume”, which bears relevance to the study of aesthetics and fashion in modern India. Taking cues from Ghurey’s ideas the present paper will highlight the underneath meaning of wearing ornaments on women’s body. Since the time of Indus Valley Civilization Indians have developed a rich culture of making, trading and wearing ornaments for different parts of the body to beautify and celebrate the human body. A costume, as Ghurye defines, is to cover and protect the body and the design of costumes attracts the attention of the viewer. Parallel to this, ornaments not only serve to please the eyes of the beholder but also fulfil a sense of aesthetic pleasure of the wearer. Thus, this article will highlight the relation between body and ornaments.
Open Access
Redefining the contours : survey on the new methods used in social sciences
(University of North Bengal, 31-03-2020) Sen, Sudarshana
The two intellectual and scholarly alignments, one with constructivism, logical induction and theory-building and the other related to positivism was reflected and manifest in two differing cerebral discourses. These intellectual alignments were rooted in different domains of philosophy of science reflected through different research paradigms. The result was a deepening divide between scholars who applied either quantitative or qualitative methods in their studies. In the late 1970s an initiative led to the publication of a Handbook of Mixed Methods in the Social and Behavioral Sciences further enriching the long struggle and intellectual reticence to mix differing and opposing philosophical flagships. This paper will take this struggle as a context and explore and analyze the emerging methods and the new philosophical breakthrough in social science researching particularly in the context of the study in everyday life.
Open Access
Criminal tribes & the raj : ideology of control in colonial India
(University of North Bengal, 31-03-2020) Saha, Anjan
‘Criminal tribes’, born criminals or ‘Denotified Tribes’ represent a concept etched onto the minds of people at the time of British rule, varnished over with legislation and preserved for considerable period. The arbitrary categorisation was first made by the company raj in 1871 and this dubious status reigns even today, reducing them to one of the most neglected elements of Indian society. In India in the late 19th century there existed several wandering groups akin to gypsies of Europe. There were travelling magicians, traders, cultivators, pastoralists and forest dwellers. Their so called rootlessness caused severe headache for the authorities. Not only did their wandering existence reinforce an economy the East India Company was attempting to replace with settled agricultural production, but these wanderers might well have proved themselves indistinguishable from roving bands of thugs. Their desire to feel in control of this floating population encouraged the production of official stereotypes like criminal tribes. They have taken recourse to theories of criminology and social control prevalent in the western world, to justify the passing of the Criminal Tribes Act 1871, branding for the first time some tribes as a whole, as criminals. Therefore, in a nutshell, in this essay an effort has been made to find out the philosophical justification/rationalisation of this notorious act and its operation