essay

The cultural construction of the person in Bengal and Tamilnadu

Concepts of person : kinship, caste, and marriage in IndiaCambridge, Mass.Published In 1982 • Pages: 8-30, 235-236 [notes], 250-251 [references]

By: Fruzzetti, Lina M., Östör, Ákos, Barnett, Steve.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This article, which builds upon Dumont's work dealing with the construction of Indian culture, alliance systems, and developmental frameworks applicable to the entire subcontinent of India, is basically a comparative study of Bengali and Tamil ideas about kinship and marriage alliances. The authors present a cultural construction of the person based on relationships and blood and marriage ties which lead to units of equivalence in kinship lines. Despite its frequent theoretical 'asides', the source does present some interesting data on kinship relations and terminology and on concepts of marriage. Comparative data on the Tamil (AW16) have been marked for Category 171 along with whatever other substantive OCM categories apply to the Bengali.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Theoretical orientation in research and its results
Comparative evidence
Basis of marriage
Regulation of marriage
Kin relationships
Kindreds and ramages
Lineages
Clans
Ethnoanatomy
Ethnophysiology
Conception
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Bengali
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2002
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Asia
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
South Asia
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
essay
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Ethnologist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
John Beierle ; 1992
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
none
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
not specified
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
India
NotesAdditional notes
[by] Lina Fruzzetti, Akos östör, and Steve Barnett
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
82002891
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Bengalis