I have question about Humans: My journey towards Anthropology

-

 

I have question about Humans: My journey towards Anthropology

by

Sneha Utthasini (sem I, 2023) 



When everyone is almost ready to study their favorite subjects after crossing the HS barrier, a new government guideline was announced. It stated that honours are no longer for three years, rather it has become a course for four years. I thought that I fell in a great danger. I questioned myself another year extra? When I was thinking about what to study, Google showed me the way. When I searched in Google about the subjects one can opt for, I encountered an unknown subject of ANTHROPOLOGY. My eyes were stuck on this subject only. Something like a strange desire to know this subject better arose in my mind. To fulfill this desire, I took admission in the department of Anthropology at Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Government College which was located in Kolkata Newtown. When I went to college with my father on my first day, I really liked the green surroundings of the area but at that same time, I had a latent fear of how beautiful the subject would be, as I was going take up Anthropology. From the first day the professors of the college gave us a basic idea about this subject. I remember on the 1st day the Suman sir told us a story about “a countrymen called ‘NAIDNI’ in that country there lives a species called ‘NAMUH’ who get married, their birthdays are celebrated, they fight with the environment, they always have various festivals”. I was very surprised to hear the words of the professor. Immediately he asked a question “Have you ever heard or seen such a country or species before?” naturally we replied, “no sir, we had not heard” then he laughed and puta white spot under the country named ‘NAIDNI’ written on the Blackboard with a chalk and said, “Now read it reverse”. ‘NAIDNI’ became ‘INDIAN’ and similarly ‘NAMUH’ became ‘HUMAN’. what a strange incident... Sir then in the deception of the story he was telling us our own story? everyone laughed and sir said, “Anthropology is the study of human beings by making our familiarity unfamiliar”. From that day on, my desire to study anthropology grew stronger. It is a study of human beings… Immediately a question arrows in my mind and I asked myself do you want to know what is human?

To be continued...

Click here for the PDF

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Respect and Disrespect: Beyond The "Trophy' Controversy

-
Image
  Respect and Disrespect: Beyond The "Trophy' Controversy by Agnimitro Ghosh, Sem V, 2023 Night had descended in the thick forests of Kanha. Mathew Halbert, one of the chief officers of a Textile Factory under the East Indian Company had set up camp in one of the clearing in the forests. Earlier that day, arrangements had been made in the huge Neem tree located in the mysterious depths of the jungle, so that our gallant officer, armed with his beloved double barreled Black Powder Express c ould have a steady aim at the site where the bait goat had been situated strategically.   The unconquerable beast of the dark, the one who is feared by all, the terrible one, was to be conquered. Veni. Vidi.Vici. Locals had reported seeing the magnificent creature with the yellow coat adorned with long swathes of black. The villagers were ready with drums and sticks, if the goat was spared by the tiger, they would be the one to lure it with noise, into the clean shot of Mr. Halbert,
Read more

Public anthropology in practice

-
Image
  Public anthropology in practice   By Prof. Abhijit Guha     BACKGROUND   A.L. Kroeber (1876-1960) in his essay Eighteen Professions published in the American Anthropologist in 1915 began with two interesting paragraphs. I quote:   Anthropology today includes two studies which fundamental differences of aim and method render irreconcilable. One of those branches is biological and psychological; the other, social or historical (Kroeber 1915).   The second paragraph starts with a more interesting sentence, which runs as follows:   There is a third field, the special province of anthropology, concerned with the relation of biological and social factors. This is no-man’s land, and therefore used as a picnic-ground by whosoever prefers pleasure excursions to the work of cultivating a patch of understanding. Some day this tract will also be surveyed, fenced and improved (Ibid).   Yes, Kroeber was right and he came to anthropology from another subject like hi
Read more

An Ethnographic Snapshot by Abhijit Guha

-
Image
  An Ethnographic Snapshot [1] Abhijit Guha abhijitguhavuanthro@rediffmail.com   ‘… When someone tells you what he states happened to himself, you are more likely to believe that he is telling the truth than when he tells you what happened to somebody else. It has besides the merit from the story-teller’s point of view that he need only tell you what he knows for a fact and can leave to your imagination what he doesn’t or couldn’t know’. W. Somerset Maugham (Preface, Collected Short Stories, vol.2, Penguin Books, 1963).   Background or false consciousness? Since I began my research on development caused forced displacement with a special emphasis to land acquisition on a particular locale, I also tried to collect public opinion outside my field area. I talked with people of other places who were not affected by land acquisition. For example, I talked, listened and debated with my colleagues, friends, relatives and strangers on the streets and public transport systems on t
Read more