This reader provides a critical overview of the ethnographic work done in India since 1947. Offering quick and comprehensive access to the main themes dealt with by ethnographers in the various regions of India, it critically assesses the history of research in each region. Important questions discussed include: Which are the significant ethnographic contributions? What themes were ethnographers interested in? How are peoples, communities and cultural areas represented? How has the ethnographic research in the area developed? Furthermore, the reader includes discussion of those areas and topics neglected in the ethnographic discourse and how trends in ethnographic research have shifted are presented.
In addition, the reader highlights key analytical concepts and paradigms that came to be of relevance in particular regions in the recent history of research and which possibly gained a pan-Indian or even trans-Indian significance. Another key issue of the book is thus to draw attention to the paradigms produced in regional ethnographic discourse and to focus on their influence in theoretical debates.
Original contributions provide access to crucial topics in the ethnography of India by giving each chapter on a region a particular thematic accent. In order to give full recognition to the cultural diversity within each of the Indian states, each chapter follows a coherent structure without being repetitive. Each chapter contains a set of further readings.
The book fills a significant gap in the literature. Structured according to the states of the Indian union, it is easily accessible. A practical reference work, it will be an invaluable resources to students and researchers in the field of a Indian anthropology, ethnography of India, regional anthropology and postcolonial studies. It will also be of interest to students of South Asian studies in general as it provides an extensive and critical overview of regionally based ethnographic activity undertaken in India. Less
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