South Asian Folklore in Transition

South Asian Folklore in Transition PDF Author: Frank J. Korom
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429753810
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 261

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Indian Subcontinent has been at the centre of folklore inquiry since the 19th century, yet, while much attention was paid to India by early scholars, folkloristic interest in the region waned over time until it virtually disappeared from the research agendas of scholars working in the discipline of folklore and folklife. This fortunately changed in the 1980s when a newly energized group of younger scholars, who were interested in a variety of new approaches that went beyond the textual interface, returned to folklore as an untapped resource in South Asian Studies. This comprehensive volume further reinvigorates the field by providing fresh studies and new models both for studying the “lore” and the “life” of everyday people in the region, as well as their engagement with the world at large. By bringing Muslims, material culture, diasporic horizons, global interventions and politics to bear on South Asian folklore studies, the authors hope to stimulate more dialogue across theoretical and geographical borders to infuse the study of the Indian Subcontinent’s cultural traditions with a new sense of relevance that will be of interest not only to areal specialists but also to folklorists and anthropologists in general. This book was originally published as a special issue of South Asian History and Culture.

South Asian Folklore

South Asian Folklore PDF Author: Peter Claus
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000143538
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 754

Get Book Here

Book Description
With 600 signed, alphabetically organized articles covering the entirety of folklore in South Asia, this new resource includes countries and regions, ethnic groups, religious concepts and practices, artistic genres, holidays and traditions, and many other concepts. A preface introduces the material, while a comprehensive index, cross-references, and black and white illustrations round out the work. The focus on south Asia includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, with short survey articles on Tibet, Bhutan, Sikkim, and various diaspora communities. This unique reference will be invaluable for collections serving students, scholars, and the general public.

Myths and Legends of South Asia and Southeast Asia

Myths and Legends of South Asia and Southeast Asia PDF Author: World Book
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780716626428
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 121

Get Book Here

Book Description
How did the crow get its black feathers? How do the gods protect the people from drought and other natural disasters? Explore the rich mythologies and legends of the many cultures of the peoples of South and Southeast Asia. Famous Myths and Legends is a beautifully photographed and illustrated 12-volume series designed to narrate the ancient mythologies and inherited stories from the many diverse cultures throughout the world.

The Dialectical Primatologist

The Dialectical Primatologist PDF Author: Nicholas Malone
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429556918
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 220

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Dialectical Primatologist identifies the essential parameters vital for the continued coexistence of hominoids (apes and humans), synthesising primate research and conservation in order to develop culturally compelling conservation strategies required for the facilitation of hominoid coexistence. As unsustainable human activities threaten many primate species with extinction, effective conservation strategies for endangered primates will depend upon our understanding of behavioural response to human-modified habitats. This is especially true for the apes, who are arguably our most powerful connection to the natural world. Recognising the inseparability of the natural and the social, the dialectical approach in this book highlights the heterogeneity and complexity of ecological relationships. Malone stresses that ape conservation requires a synthesis of nature and culture that recognises their inseparability in ecological relationships that are both biophysically and socially formed, and seeks to identify the pathways that lead to either hominoid coexistence or, alternatively, extinction. This book will be of keen interest to academics in biological anthropology, primatology, environmental anthropology, conservation and human–animal studies.

Gender in South Asia

Gender in South Asia PDF Author: Subhadra Channa
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107043611
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 239

Get Book Here

Book Description
The book theorizes gender in terms of models generalizing upon historical sources and lived realities.

A Companion to Folklore

A Companion to Folklore PDF Author: Regina F. Bendix
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118863143
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 690

Get Book Here

Book Description
A Companion to Folklore presents an original and comprehensive collection of essays from international experts in the field of folklore studies. Unprecedented in depth and scope, this state-of-the-art collection uniquely displays the vitality of folklore research across the globe. An unprecedented collection of original, state of the art essays on folklore authored by international experts Examines the practices and theoretical approaches developed to understand the phenomena of folklore Considers folklore in the context of multi-disciplinary topics that include poetics, performance, religious practice, myth, ritual and symbol, oral textuality, history, law, politics and power as well as the social base of folklore Selected by Choice as a 2013 Outstanding Academic Title

Children and Knowledge

Children and Knowledge PDF Author: Zazie Bowen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000740412
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Get Book Here

Book Description
Children and Knowledge sheds light on what it is to be a child in India in the contemporary moment and in history. While acknowledging the ways Indian children are situated within structures of power, this volume foregrounds innovative methodologies for conducting research into childhood and children’s lives that meaningfully engage with young people’s understandings, stories and agency. The chapters probe conceptualisations of Indian childhoods, and interrogate both singularising models of childhood and the idea of ‘multiple childhoods’. The contributors use the theme 'children and knowledge' to analyse young people’s interactions with institutions of modernity and social structures – including gender, family, class, community and caste, as well as media, markets and development – that often marginalise and frame children in multiple, cumulative ways. The chapters juxtapose and triangulate three approaches to knowledge: knowledge about children; knowledge for children; and children’s own knowledge. Taken together, the chapters demonstrate how this juxtaposition is a useful framework for the analysis of historical and contemporary Indian social processes. Demonstrating that understanding Indian children’s experiences and knowledgeable perspectives is fundamental to any proper understanding of social complexity and change Children and Knowledge will be of great interest to scholars of childhoods studies, gender, education and South Asian studies. The book was originally published as a special issue of South Asian History and Culture.

Women, Religion and the Body in South Asia

Women, Religion and the Body in South Asia PDF Author: Kristin Hanssen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 135135759X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 269

Get Book Here

Book Description
Noted for their haunting melodies and enigmatic lyrics, Bauls have been portrayed as spiritually enlightened troubadours traveling around the countryside in West Bengal in India and in Bangladesh. As emblems of Bengali culture, Bauls have long been a subject of scholarly debates which center on their esoteric practices, and middle class imaginaries of the category Baul. Adding to this literature, the intimate ethnography presented in this book recounts the life stories of members from a single family, shining light on their past and present tribulations bound up with being poor and of a lowly caste. It shows that taking up the Baul path is a means of softening the stigma of their lower caste identity in that religious practice, where women play a key role, renders the body pure. The path is also a source of monetary income in that begging is considered part of their vocation. For women, the Baul path has the added implication of lessening constraints of gender. While the book describes a family of singers, it also portrays the wider society in which they live, showing how their lives connect and interlace with other villagers, a theme not previously explored in literature on Bauls. A novel approach to the study of women, the body and religion, this book will be of interest to undergraduates and graduates in the field of the anthropology. In addition, it will appeal to students of everyday religious lives as experienced by the poor, through case studies in South Asia. The book provides further evidence that renunciation in South Asia is not a uniform path, despite claims to the contrary. There is also a special interest in Bauls among those familiar with the Bengali speaking region. While this book speaks to that interest, its wider appeal lies in the light it sheds on religion, the body, life histories, and poverty.

Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife [3 volumes]

Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife [3 volumes] PDF Author: Jonathan H. X. Lee
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313350671
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1498

Get Book Here

Book Description
This comprehensive compilation of entries documents the origins, transmissions, and transformations of Asian American folklore and folklife. Equally instructive and intriguing, the Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife provides an illuminating overview of Asian American folklore as a way of life. Surveying the histories, peoples, and cultures of numerous Asian American ethnic and cultural groups, the work covers everything from ancient Asian folklore, folktales, and folk practices that have been transmitted and transformed in America to new expressions of Asian American folklore and folktales unique to the Asian American historical and contemporary experiences. The encyclopedia's three comprehensive volumes cover an extraordinarily wide range of Asian American cultural and ethnic groups, as well as mixed-race and mixed-heritage Asian Americans. Each group section is introduced by a historical overview essay followed by short entries on topics such as ghosts and spirits, clothes and jewelry, arts and crafts, home decorations, family and community, religious practices, rituals, holidays, music, foodways, literature, traditional healing and medicine, and much, much more. Topics and theories are examined from crosscultural and interdisciplinary perspectives to add to the value of the work.

Chinese Beliefs and Practices in Southeast Asia

Chinese Beliefs and Practices in Southeast Asia PDF Author: Hock-Tong Cheu
Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
ISBN: 1543765513
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 303

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book consists of fifteen chapters which can be divided into five major themes: (i) Chinese religion, (ii) Chinese attitudes toward religion, (iii) Chinese spirit cults in Malaysia, (iv) the development of local spirit cults, and (v) major festivals celebrated in Malaysia. The first section deals with three Chinese religious traditions in Malaysia, in particular, and other countries like Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand in Southeast Asia, in general. The second section attempts to discuss on Chinese attitudes towards religion, Chinese religious conception and its implication in their social life, and how Confucian ethics have contributed to the economic success of the Chinese in Malaysia. The Third section seeks to examine the various aspects of the Nine Emperor Gods, the Datuk Kong (Malay keramat), and the spread of Malay and Chinese spirit cults to Sabah, East Malaysia. The fourth section deliberates on three major processes of change in the development of spirit cults in Malaysia: the localization of Chinese locality cults, including Tudigong and Dabogong, the Sinicization of the Malay keramat, and the indigenization or desinicization of an aboriginal Datuk Seman in Broga, Selangor. And the last section winds up with the practical aspects of celebrating festivals in Malaysia and other parts of Southeast Asia, with special emphasis on festivals in general in the Chinese calendar, the festival of the Nine Emperor Gods in Southeast Asia, and the socio-psychological aspects of the Nine Emperor Gods Vegetarian Festival in Thailand.