Public Faces, Private Lives: Community and Individuality in South IndiaIndividuality is often viewed as an exclusively Western value. In non-Western societies, collective identities seem to eclipse those of individuals. These generalities, however, have overlooked the importance of personal uniqueness, volition, and achievement in these cultures. As an anthropologist in Tamil Nadu, South India, Mattison Mines found private and public expressions of self in all sectors of society. Based on his twenty-five years of field research, Public Faces, Private Voices weaves together personal life stories, historical description, and theoretical analysis to define individuality in South Asia and to distinguish it from its Western counterpart. This engaging and controversial book will be of great interest to scholars and students working in anthropology, psychology, sociology, South Asian history, urban studies, and political science. |
Contents
| 1 | |
PUBLIC FACES | 29 |
The Nature of Civic Individuality | 31 |
Institutions and Bigmen of a Madras City Community George Town Today | 49 |
Making the Community George Town in Social History | 84 |
A Portrait of Change | 108 |
The Decline of Community and the Roles of Bigmen | 115 |
PRIVATE VOICES | 147 |
Other editions - View all
Public Faces, Private Lives: Community and Individuality in South India Mattison Mines Limited preview - 1994 |
Public Faces, Private Voices: Community and Individuality in South India Mattison Mines No preview available - 1994 |
Common terms and phrases
A. K. Ramanujan achieve association Bala Bala's bank Beeri Chet behavior big-men Brahman British caste community caste maḍam caste's civic individuality Company constituencies context council describe dividual Dumont elected eminence endogamy example expressions father father-in-law Fort St George Town Beeri goals gumbu guru head trustee headmen Hindu honor household husband identity important Indian society informants institutions interests interview joint family Kachaleeswarar temple Kaikkoolar Kanchipuram Kandasami temple Kasi Komati Lakshmi leaders leadership lives loan locality located Madras City Mannady marriage married Marriott merchants moieties Muthialpet Nagarattars Natarajan Nungambakam offices one's organization outcaste Park Town Periyagramam person political preeminent processional prominent reflect relationships reputation responsibility right-hand ritual role Rotaract Royapuram Saroja says self-interest sense Sivakumar social south Indian story Sundaram Tambi Tamil individuality Tamil Nadu Tamil society Tangavelu tell temple car temple's tion told Town Beeri Chettiars village Viswanathan women
Popular passages
Page 4 - One will thereby avoid inadvertently attributing the presence of the individual to societies in which he is not recognized, and also avoid making him a universal unit of comparison or element of reference.