As we talked about the different roles of family members in Tamil Nadu, Margaret asked us what would our role be with the families that we would be staying with. I thought it was interesting to ask that because I had never really thought about my role. I just saw myself as a BYU student who was going to be going to India, living there and doing field research. But the longer I think about it, the more it makes sense. I will be living with them, which means that I will be a part of their family and their home for an entire summer. I thought of that and how interesting it will be to be with them everyday, all day.
As we discussed kinship in Tamil Nadu, I was confused by the whole "cross-cousin" marriage. I had no idea that this went on in their culture, but I was ok with it. I tried to accept it, instead of fighting it. We were asked what we considered to be family. When I think of my family, I think of my parents, my sister and my aunts and uncles, and their kids. I don't even include my step-sisters in there. Then we went on to talk about the meaning of family in India. Who did they consider family? their children, their siblings? We were told that sometimes in a house, there will be a lot of little kids in house, and no one will really know who belongs to who at the moment. Then, someone brought up a good point, "does it matter?". At first I thought, "of course it matters! I want to keep track of my kids. I don't want my next-door neighbor's kids to be eating my food and just hanging out at my house all day!". But as I thought through it, the fact that those who live in proximity are considered family, makes the society they live in, more cohesive. I could see why there would be more unity within the village, if this was the case. I also thought of spheres of influence.
One of the things that I want to focus on in my field research, is the sphere of influence that women have in the village. How does their behavior and their actions influence their children? their village and their societies? Understanding how they view kinship and family, made me think of this in a different way.
Instead of one woman only influencing her children, there might be more than woman, influencing not only her own children, but the children of her next neighbor as well. Likewise, her neighbor will have a certain amount of influence over her own children. And what about the influence they will have on each other? I began to see that the spheres of influence might be intricately connected and interwoven, because of how they view family, and how they go about their daily activities in company of others, rather than in isolation. Understanding the different influences that families have in India, I will be better able to interpret the data I will collect from the women I will interview in the village. It will be really interesting to see how it will all pan out.
Okay, I have a novel and a book of short stories you might want to read, if you have time. They aren't scholarly per se, but they are basically about women in Indian culture. They might give you some ideas for your project.
ReplyDeleteThe novel is called The Mango Season, by Amulya Maladi. It is about a woman who moves to the U.S. when she is twenty and now after seven years is returning to India. I think it is exaggerated, but the whole novel basically deals with a soap opera of the roles of women in the family. It takes place In Andhra Pradesh just to the north of Tamil Nadu, but it is still South India, so there will be some similarities between Telugu and Tamil culture.
The book of short stories is called Separate Journeys: Short Stories by Contemporary Indian Women. The introductions deal more with what I am doing with my project, but each of the stories deals with women's issues in India. The thing with this book is the stories are from all over the country, so the cultural applications are not going to be specific to Tamil Nadu, but it might be useful to you.
If you are interested, I can loan them to you, just let me know.
Also check out this book:
DeleteFeminist locations : global and local, theory and practice
HQ 1190 .F4534 2001
pages 212-226
the chapter is called: Feminism and the Politics of the Hindu Goddess
thank you so much Rem! I am interested in the Mango novel and in the other stories about women. When do you think you I can get those from you? Here is my number in case you are on campus and wanna give them to me.
DeleteThanks so much!
480-776-7923