Knowledge in Culture and disasters
Culture and disasters-towards methods and framework
Accurate and appropriate data, printed study material. Culture and disasters.
shubhangi Gupta
EXPERIENCE AS KNOWLEDGE
When we talk about experience as knowledge we can say that each time we undergo any experience, we learn something. All these experiences help us learn from the mistakes we made and guide us on how to do better the next time we face a similar challenge. This cumulative learning over time adds up to knowledge. This concept of ‘experiences as knowledge’ can be applied to understand certain aspects of ‘ Annayya’s Anthropology’ written by A.K Ramanujan. In the short story ‘Annayya’s Anthropology’, Annayya is a young man who was born in Mysore and is now in America for further studies. In a textual analysis of the story we can see many instances when Annayya uses his experiences from when he was back in Mysore to relate to a particular text while he is studying in America in an attempt to gain self- knowledge. One such instance is when he reads in Manu about the twelve impurities of the human bodies and tried to recall his experiences of what he had been told about it. He recalled that “he had been told as a child not to spit, to clean himself after a bowel movement and after urinating” ( Ramanujan, A.K “Annayya’s Anthropology” npg) and also gave the example of his aunt that “ whenever his aunt went to the outhouse she took with her a handful of clay” ( Ramanujan,A.K “Annayya’s Anthropology” npg).From the story, we get to know that, while living in India, “Annayya was obsessed with things American, English or European”(Ramanujan, A.K “Annayya’s Anthropology” npg). Living in a conservative Indian society, the best he could do to quench his thirst for the western way of life was to read about it. It was only when he arrived in America that “he drank beer and whisky, ate beef, used toilet paper instead of washing himself with water, lapped up the Playboy magazines with their pictures of naked breasts, thighs, and some navels as big as rupee coins””(Ramanujan, A.K “Annayya’s Anthropology”)Once in America, he gets questioned frequently on rituals of Hinduism,'Why do your women wear that red dot on their forehead?'In order to answer such queries correctly, Annayya starts to read, and gradually gets obsessed with books on Indian tradition.It is then that Annayyachances upon a book called ‘Hinduism: Custom and Ritual’ which was written by Steven Fergusson, an American anthropologist whoo had done his field studies in India while on a Ford Foundation fellowship. “What amazing information this Fergusson chap had given! There was a quotation from Manu on every page”(Ramanujan, A.K “Annayya’s Anthropology” npg). While he was reading about the four aspects of funeral rites, Annayya realized that he had very little experience when it came to funerals. Yet his theoretical knowledge of the funeral rites of Brahmins was truly remarkable as he knew everything from how the position of the dead Brahmin should be before his funeral to the ten different items that had to be given away as charity following a Brahmin’s death.As for Steven Fergusson, the only reason that he was able to write the book was because he was able to experience and witness all of the traditions and rituals first hand. Steven Fergusson, who was an ‘ outcaste foreigner’, had come to Mysore and during his three year stay there from 1966-68, had been helped by Annayya’s cousin Sundararaya and his familyin collecting material for the book. 'How much did the Fergusson chap pay him?'wondered Annayya.In a tragic twist,Annayya recognises people and the veranda of a house in the photographs in the book only to realise that they document the funeral of his own father!'All these years, Annayya had not really seen death.'Now, as he witnessed second -hand his father's funeral and his mother's shaved head, he realised that the theoretical knowledge of the entire ritualistic procedure of a Brahmin's funeral that he had could never have prepared him for the actual experience .And by not informing Annayya of his father's death and performing the funeral rituals himself, Sundararaya had robbed and cheated him of his rights .'The story tugs at the immigrant's dread that distance will prevent his fulfilment of filial duty.'(Kumar Amitava, Kenyon review, volume XXIV/number 3/4, page 76)Through this story, Ramanujan has made the reader realise that one cannot substitute reading up on certain matters for actually experiencing them.Theoretical knowledge can only enhance one's appreciation and understanding of one's experiences.'Death is an individual grief; for other it may have only academic interest. '(Uma Mahadevan Dasgupta, The Hindu, dated May 15th, 2016) So what for Fergusson was just an incident in an anthropological study was an opportunity for Sundararaya to exploit commercially and was actually a life changing and tragic time in Annayya's life which he missed to experience first -hand.
Kartik Mathur
UNVEILING OF SOCIAL EVILS IN “SAMSKARA”
U.R. Ananthamurthy’s Kannada novel “Samaskara” is set in the 1930s in a small village of orthodox Brahmins in South India. The story deals with the dilemma facing the village Brahmins led by the head priest Praneshacharya as to who should perform the last rites of Naranappa, a lapsed Brahmin. The novel is sub-titled “A Rite for a Dead Man”, but it is an allegorical tale which works at many levels. It addresses several pertinent and timeless issues like casteism, untouchability, the sexual subjugation of women, the struggle between tradition and modernity and the journey of self-realisation of the main protagonist, Praneshacharya. The agrahara of Madhvas sect is an isolated hamlet, insulated from the outside world. The resident Brahmins consider themselves learned and superior to other Brahmins like the Smartas because they follow the rituals and traditions laid out in the scriptures meticulously. They follow a set routine round the year and have no skills beyond their traditional one of performing religious rites. This leaves them poor and ill fed. They cling to outdated superstitions and beliefs which are then warped to suit their cravings and desires. The spiritual guru of the agrahara, Praneshacharaya, the “Crest -Jewel of Vedic Learning” is initially presented as an epitome of pure Brahminism. He is austere, learned and follows the scriptures with pedantic zeal. However, the death of Naranappa, a fellow resident of the village, brings to the surface the hidden ills and hypocricies of orthodox Brahminism. Naranappa, though a Brahmin by birth, flouted all religious taboos and lived life on his own terms. He drank liquor, ate meat, befriended Muslims and kept a low cast woman, Chandri, as his concubine. He had scant respect for the corrupt ways of the orthodox Brahmins, “All your Brahmin respectability, I’ll roll it up and throw it all ways for a little bit of pleasure with one female.” (Page 20) His hedonistic life style outraged the puritanical Brahmins. Their small minds could not see that he was actually a progressive reformer, good at business, patron of drama and music and well aware of the political developments outside the agrahara. When Naranappa dies, a crisis emerges in the village. When alive, Naranappa’s non-conformist behaviour drew censure and horror, and when he died, the Brahmins, fearful of being polluted, were uncertain as to who was to conduct his last rites. Naranappa “may have rejected Brahminhood, but Brahminhood never left him. No one ever excommunicated him officially.” (Page 10). This dilemma leads to the unveiling of several hypocricies and ill practices of the agrahara Brahmins. The orthodox Brahmins of the agrahara live in their own decadent little world, insulated from the outside. Their lives are steeped in traditions and strict following of the rules and rituals as laid down in the scriptures. Superficially wise and learned, they suffer from all the weaknesses and frailties of ordinary humans. They strongly believe in the superstition of pure-impure and fear that no one could eat until Naranappa’s dead body was cremated. However lofty their ideals, they suffer from the vices of gluttony, avarice and lust. Laxmana is so greedy that he ”waits like a vulture to get invited to meals.Now his eyes are on the gold." (page 30). Shripati and Manjunath take drinks even as “our best friend is lying there dead, rotting!” (Page 64). Dasacharaya may be afraid of social criticism but does not hesitate to eat at Manjayya’s place. Fearful of polluting their purity, all the Brahmins refuse to carry out the funeral rites for Naranappa even though they knew him all his life and he was, even in death, a Brahmin. “Alive, Naranappa was an enemy; dead, a preventer of meals; as a corpse: a problem, a nuisance.” (Page 5) However, when low caste Chandri unselfishly offers her gold ornaments to pay for the funeral, all the Brahmins do a turnabout. Greed for getting their hands on two thousand rupees worth of gold overtake their religious scruples. This shows how greedy and shallow these men actually are. The wives of the orthodox Brahmins are no better. They are close minded, jealous and greedy women who are constantly egging their husbands on. Praneshacharaya is ascetic, learned and a firm believer in the wisdom of the scriptures. He takes refuge behind them instead of doing the humane and decent thing by Naranappa. He, and the others waste time dithering and hair-splitting over religious technicalities even as their colleague’s rotting carcass lies unattended. It is left to Chandri, the low caste prostitute,and a Muslim to perform Naranappa’s cremation. This shows the weak moral fibre of the so called upper caste orthodox Brahmins. They also suffer from a deeply engrained belief in caste discrimination. Even Praneshacharaya is not above this. He runs his hands over a cow’s back affectionately but is afraid to be polluted if he speaks to Chandri as he will need to bathe again before eating. The low caste people of the village live in abject poverty on the fringes of the agrahara. Belli and Chinni pick up cow dung for a living. Chinni begs for food from a distance from Brahmin women. This sense of caste segregation and untouchability is so deeply engrained in the Brahmins so as to de-humanise them and make them disregard the miseries of fellow humans as their due in life. The orthodox Brahmins also suffers from the vice of lust. They may believe in untouchability but are not averse to clandestine relations with low caste women. Shripati longs for the sensuous Belli, “her body…the colour of the earth, fertile, ready for seed, warmed by an early sun”. (page 33). They surreptitiously ogle Chandri even as she mourns her dead lover. They take great pride in being the descendants of sages like Vishwamitra and Kashyap who had illicit relations with ordinary women. They revere the mythological tales which describe in explicit details the legend of Matsyagandha and Shakuntalam. They may pretend to be righteous and austere but are not above visiting the brothels of Basrur. When Praneshacharaya “gave up telling the luscious puranic stories in the evenings and started on moral tales of penance….” (Page 24) the young Brahmins stopped attending his sermons. The author uses the half witted senile Lakshmidevamma to bring out how the rights of poor widows are exploited. Cheated by Garuda who has stolen “a poor old shaven widow’s money” (Page 38) she curses, “where has your Brahminism gone, you rascals!” (Page 38). This scolding is a scathing indictment of the greedy manipulative nature of the so called sanskari Brahmins. Religion has not uplifted them spiritually but made them inhuman. Praneshacharaya, too, is not above human weaknesses. He marries an invalid Bhagirathi, not out of love or compassion, but as a means of self-deprivation which will lead him on the fast track to salvation. His celibacy and devoted care of his wife is actually a moral hypocrisy and a farce.He unquestionably follows flawed Brahmanical taboos,"How can I touch a woman polluted by her menstrual blood?"(Page 73) The agrahara Brahmins are complacent in the belief of their own superiority and unaware of social and political developments in the country. They consider the army a polluting influence. They are fearful of the omens of the dead rats and vultures hovering over their agrahara but seek no scientific explanation or medical resource to fight the plague. The contrast between the withered women of the agrahara and the exuberant sensuality of the low caste women is indicative of the decaying ethos of the Brahmins versus the celebration of life outside the agrahara. At a deeper level, this novel can be viewed as an allegory about the journey of self- realisation by Praneshacharaya. However, the author uses wit, satire and biting sarcasm to lay bare the moral hypocrisy practiced by the orthodox Brahmins under the guise of their status exalted by birth and learning. It is a sharp indictment of the social evils prevalent at the time. With realistic detail, this thought-provoking novel raises issues that are relevant even today.
Games
Video or computer, play station games have become one of the dominant parts of the modern world, child and adult entertainment in the modern century. They have become a part of the world wide culture where the game environment has closely connected to the reality of the world. In order to understand how games influence society, games themselves, the devices that are needed to play the games, and the culture must be analyzed. One has to look at personal, social and public influence games have had on the world and the market, not to mention the demand and future of entertainment. In the end, the virtual world of games, both realistic and imagined, are becoming an inseparable part of any society, increasing its influences every year.Some of the tendencies that have been established pertain to a change in the type of the average gamer (age, gender, social status and experience, the structure of requests and the distribution of time). Today, it is no longer a child or a teenager, it could be someone over 30 or 40 years old, with almost equal probability a man or woman who has some experience and experience of games, as well as a wide choice of alternative entertainment. Such a gamer has many restrictions - on the game, on the ability to play with friends, on the ability to be surprised and involved. Therefore, the number of game requirements is also greatly increasing. This leads to a rapid differentiation of games, because the requirements themselves are numerous and contradictory: for example, complex games developed more responsive to the requirement of a strong plot and involvement, and some would work with the requirement of ease and convenience. Such a gamer has a rather noticeable tendency to be saddened: especially the last year or two, one by one, there are remakes and remasters, as well as indie games with obvious references to the classics. Firstly, it is a request for communication. Today, this is not so much a question of technology (convenient chat rooms and forums on game servers), as well as the opportunity to feel community ownership. People are social creatures and, moreover, status beings, so anonymity is much less inviting. For this reason, gaming services today not only help to find a friend for the game, but also pay considerable attention to various achievements (including allowing you to compare yourself with other players). Every year the experience grows and the desire for strong emotions from the game does as well. In fact, today a huge amount of requirements (from realistic physics to the originality of the world and characters) are different options for increasing the emotional suggestion of games. Because of this, requests for “something more than just a game” are also increasingly being heard - for example, in the form of addressing “adult” topics (violence, sex, complex moral dilemmas, non-exaggerated philosophical, social, political and other issues). Together with the development of the technical component of the game industry, these requests form many other trends or conditions for future major changes. Such variety of gamers is attracted by the numerous reality like or on the contrary, fantasy or sci-fi, making games universally popular, among ages, classes and nationalities.One of the reasons games are so popular is because they influence the brain, the stimulation of the cortex, In the most explicit form, is blurring the boundaries of games, their hybridization with other types of culture through the use of interactivity. There are travel games, research games, narrative games (including interactive drama), educational games, flash jokes and video mixes with interactivity elements, etc. Games are used as part of an advertising campaign, as arguments against or for something, as an effective criticism of political and social phenomena or even as aggressive defamation of people and institutions. At a further periphery, gaming and computer technology and cinema interpenetrate. The use of real actors and motion capture technology made the characters in the games lively and convincing. And the plots from the games are increasingly complicated and pull in the gamer, having migrated to the film version. The influence of games on aesthetics and design (for example, on the aesthetics of interfaces) is also obvious. Also, experiments with the form and capabilities gradually reveal the close intertwining of the single and multiplayer, so both the active participation of other players and the use of content created by players will become mainstream. As a result, the development of controllers and augmented reality tools are changing the way the game is played. For example, the stereotype about games as being associated with a sedentary and inactive lifestyle is no longer universal. True, so far a significant part of new gadgets for games are just promises or too expensive excesses that have little effect on the nature of the game, however, the technology is here. Representing the future direction of the development of reality emulation technologies, the majority (both specialists and non-specialists) usually assume that the key direction is the realism of the picture and the removal of boundaries. By eliminating boundaries, I mean the creation of the effect of invisibility of emulation, which can be achieved both by improving gadgets (easier and more convenient, more perfect picture and dynamics of movement, etc.), and using projects neurocomputer interface. Of course, there are now technologies that enhance the involvement in the virtual world through additional stimulation — smells, tactile sensations and kinesthetics, a physical response, sensations, etc. First, it will be a copy of reality, and then pure creativity (creating a kind of cocktails from a variety of sensations. It is logical to assume that in the coming years, crowdsourcing and crowdfunding will continue to have a certain impact on the gaming industry. Crowdsourcing in the narrow sense is an open collective discussion of ways to solve a technical or other problem, in a broad sense - the existence of an extensive discussion of the most varied nuances of games, allowing to navigate in user requests and draw new ideas. Both are a kind of “brainstorming”, which allows to increase the speed of solving various problems by an order of magnitude. The key is to take into account the hundreds, if not thousands, of the wishes of their fans. In the narrow sense, crowdsourcing is more often used in business and science, but with the development of independent game projects, there will be in demand in games. (Lundby, 2008). Another tendency is the rapid expansion of the ability of people to play video games. That is, the massive distribution of games will somehow affect the game industry, but it is not completely clear when and how this will happen. In conclusion, games have penetrated the market, private and public lives, culture and all forms of entertainment. The constant development is leading to a better looking, sounding and feeling games which can compete with reality and any other types of entertainment known to this day. As with anything, a balance of time spent playing games must be found, so that excessive gaming does not become a problem. Overall, games are useful forms of entertainment which are gaining more popularity than ever, molding the real and the virtual worlds.An article by Donna White researcher https://plagiarismsearch.com/ and editor of the Institute of Social Relations
Donna White