Play, Symbolism, and Ritual: A Study of Tamil Brahmin Women's Rites of Passage (American University Studies) - Hardcover

Duvvury, Vasumathi K.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0820411086 ISBN 13: 9780820411088

Publisher: Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers, 1991

Synopsis

This study comprises an in-depth analysis of the world of south Indian rural and urban Tamil Brahmin Aiyar women - a world made up of oral, 'non-serious' rituals, where the various categories of women occupy very definite and often contrasting positions.
Women's rituals, since they are primarily non-scriptural, have hitherto received scant attention from scholars who have mainly been interested in the scriptural or Vedic tradition of India. Dealt with in two parts with illustrative case studies and photographs, this is probably the most comprehensive and systematic study available to date on Aiyar women and their rituals.

About this title

About the Author

The Author: Vasumathi K. Duvvury received her B.A. (Hons) and M.A. in English from Bangalore University, India, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Anthropology from Rice University, Houston. Her areas of special interest in socio-cultural anthropology are: women's studies, anthropological study of play, symbolic anthropology, cognitive anthropology, south Asia, and ethnographic films. She has published papers on playful aspects of ritual and women's roles in India.

Edition details

• Publisher: Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0820411086
• ISBN 13: 9780820411088
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 251