Bibliograph

Caste, entrepreneurship and the illusions of tradition, branding the potters of Kolkata, Geir Heierstad

Type

Label

Caste, entrepreneurship and the illusions of tradition, branding the potters of Kolkata, Geir Heierstad

Language

eng

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Caste, entrepreneurship and the illusions of tradition

Medium

electronic resource

Nature of contents

dictionaries

Oclc number

967393585

Responsibility statement

Geir Heierstad

Series statement

Diversity and plurality in South AsiaCambridge Social Sciences eBooks

Sub title

branding the potters of Kolkata

Summary

Caste, Entrepreneurship and the Illusions of Tradition is an ethnographic study of the potters of Kolkata's Kumartuli, an analysis of their lives and the related commodification and instrumentalization of caste.In Kolkata’s traditional potter quarter of Kumartuli, a modern and a competitive market oriented approach to life is concealed behind tradition. Among the potters inhabiting the dirt-floored workshops of this caste-based neighbourhood, the history of a modern and economically neoliberal-minded India unfolds. To these contemporary potters, caste is in their blood, caste is about being a creative and independent artist, and caste is about business as they engage in a competitive market to sell their artworks. This ethnographic study presents an analysis of these potters’ lives and the related commodification and instrumentalisation of caste. An important insight is that Kumartuli consists of a group of artisans turned artists who do not display passive responses to colonial and capitalist encounters. On the contrary, this monograph unearths an ingenious and business-minded group that engages actively with the modern and economic developments of society at large, and, in the process, redefines the concept of caste identity. This study suggests a new academic direction for the study of modern India, and of caste in particular, through an empirically grounded portrayal of the synthesis of traditional categories and contemporary realities.--, Provided by publisher

Table Of Contents

Acknowledgments -- Transliteration and terminology -- Prologue: the Durga Puja Bias -- On kumars, modernity, caste and commodification -- The civilised potters and their neighbourhood -- Birth of tradition, coming of modernity -- Ancestral homes : East versus West -- Turmoil and economics -- Mature modernity, education and caste as assets -- Commodification of caste -- References

Creator