DSpace Community: Journal of the Department of Sociology of North Bengal University
http://ir.nbu.ac.in/handle/123456789/3479
Journal of the Department of Sociology of North Bengal University2024-03-07T16:59:13ZMicro-Entrepreneurial Issues and Challenges of Darjeeling Hills: An Inquiry
http://ir.nbu.ac.in/handle/123456789/5056
Title: Micro-Entrepreneurial Issues and Challenges of Darjeeling Hills: An Inquiry
Authors: Tamang, Rosan
Abstract: Study provides an understanding of sociological
challenges concerning micro-entrepreneurial activities in Darjeeling
hills. Historically, micro-entrepreneurship has played a dynamic role
in contributing to economic growth, environmental sustainability, and
employment generation in different parts of the country. More
specifically, it plays a key role in the region where large industries are
not viable due to geographical constraints, as it becomes an essential
driving force in promoting regional balance, reducing disparities
between plains and hills, and preserving the traditional material culture
of the diverse ethnic groups and tribes of different regions. Based on
fieldwork conducted in different areas, including rural and urban
areas of the Darjeeling hills between June and December 2022 through
some ethnographic insight. The findings point out that the hills micro
entrepreneurs faced several challenges and restrictions, resulting in
inadequate opportunities to flourish despite the environment of
entrepreneurship that emerged in this neoliberal digital era.2023-03-31T00:00:00ZIndigenous Therapeutics, Public Discourse and the Politics of Practice in 20th Century Colonial Bengal
http://ir.nbu.ac.in/handle/123456789/5055
Title: Indigenous Therapeutics, Public Discourse and the Politics of Practice in 20th Century Colonial Bengal
Authors: Gupta, Anuradha
Abstract: State sanctioned archival documents on indigenous medicine
is reflective of the practice of forgetting and foregoing in constructing
an “Indian Medical System”. These documents not being the only one
in public discourse bears open an elite practice of institutionalisation
of a dynamic field with possibilities in voices and vocation that
transgresses such elite and authoritarian definitions. The public
discourse is a space that not only accommodates the “official” but
also a wide range of documents that have an official charge but does
not fit into the restrictive scope of the statist registers of qualifying as
officially sanctioned knowledge. The article attempts to make a close
reading of public policy of documents of indigenous medicines in the
late colonial period in India and the vast circulation of printed matters,
especially Bengali periodicals publishing on the same, that were being
published in those years and reading them together in a dialogue.
Unlike reading them as existing dichotomously, the article attempts to
study what Henry Lefebvre calls the “present” in understanding the
everyday life. The task of policy makers around medical matters and
practitioners in constructing an authentic charter overlooks these
periodicals that supplements the former’s nationalist cause as well as
circumvent it. Grihachikitsa and Mustiyog, that the article will focus
upon, dotting these periodicals continue to pose itself as an epistemic
conundrum refusing to settle indigenous therapeutics into any dominant
discourse and disciplinisation. Methodologically, everyday life of
therapeutic matters will unfold the problem of knowledge formation
around the historicity of these medicinal materials and also how it
remains a contested field due to the policies that overlook the identities
around caste, regional, linguistic and gender diversity in contributing
to the epistemic repertoire of “national medicine”.2023-03-31T00:00:00ZMountains, Modernity and Nature: Reconfiguring the aspects of Himalayan Mountaineering
http://ir.nbu.ac.in/handle/123456789/5054
Title: Mountains, Modernity and Nature: Reconfiguring the aspects of Himalayan Mountaineering
Authors: Dutta, Debaditya
Abstract: paper traces the genealogy of mountaineering from its
origin in the Alpine mountains to its manifestation in the Himalaya
through the mechanisms of colonialism in the late nineteenth century.
Mountaineering and modernity coincided with each other and
conquering the Himalayan mountains became a colonial project. The
paper attempts to show how the entanglements between nature and
humans were (re)organised as mountaineering unfolded in the high
Himalaya. From records on the early Himalayan surveys and
expeditions the paper tries to comprehend the reconfiguration brought
about in the Himalaya through colonial survey and mountaineering
in its early days of inception.2023-03-31T00:00:00ZBed Rest at Childbirth: Exploring Empirical Dimensions of Support and Vulnerability
http://ir.nbu.ac.in/handle/123456789/5053
Title: Bed Rest at Childbirth: Exploring Empirical Dimensions of Support and Vulnerability
Authors: Sharma, Rukmani
Abstract: phenomenon of childbirth is a social event, whereby
women hailing from both conventional and modern societies bestow
substantial credence upon their social counterparts for the provision
of emotional and psychological sustenance. The established
importance of obtaining social support from one’s biological kin has
been widely recognised. It is of utmost importance to adopt a discerning
perspective when dealing with this reliance and evaluate it from a
sociological standpoint, rather than simply acknowledging it as a
mundane occurrence. The inquiry into the selection process of women
beneficiaries and benefactors in times of vulnerability may shed light
on the uncharted rules and norms governing social support. A
comprehensive evaluation of the care dependency of expectant mothers
mandates a meticulous examination of the sociocultural milieu in which
they are positioned. The ongoing inquiry pertains to a specific cohort
of women who give birth within a biomedicalized urban setting,
wherein modern techniques enable the detection of potential risks with
unparalleled efficiency. Expectant mothers are often troubled by the
possibility of being classified as high-risk throughout the duration of
their gestation period. Pregnancies that present a heightened risk are
subject to meticulous oversight, diagnostic evaluations, and targeted
pharmacological interventions. Although bed rest is a commonly
prescribed intervention for the management of pregnancies with a
high risk of complications, its effectiveness cannot always be assured.
It is widely acknowledged that a considerable segment of the
women lacks the requisite resources and capabilities to comply with
the recommended protocols of prolonged antenatal and postnatal bed
rest. The present study endeavours to conduct a comprehensive
analysis of the organizational culture of Prakash Hospital, with a specific emphasis on the impact of unique social and economic
determinants on the assimilation of bed rest norms among women. In
a general sense, the discussion regarding the notion of bed rest pertains
to the capacity of women to alleviate potential risks via reliance on
their maternal kinship networks (baper bari).2023-03-31T00:00:00Z