A Cultural Anthropological Study of the Commercialization and Transformation of Urban Space in South Asia

文化人类学及其相关研究领域的学者在南亚20个不同规模的城市进行了50多次实地研究，并根据他们的研究发表了91篇文章，在各种学术会议上阅读了27篇论文。南亚城市民族志研究的积累，是对南亚城市研究发展的一个重要贡献。通过这些研究，以下三点变得清晰。首先，神圣性和王权在南亚城市的形成中起着重要的作用。其次，消费文化的渗透使城市的传统特色消失，城市传统的社会关系发生了变化。最后，宗教活动在社区重建中再次发挥重要作用，以对抗这些社会趋势。

Scholars of the cultural anthropology and its related field of study carried out field research a total of more than 50 times in 20 cities of various scales in South Asia and published 91 articles and read 27 papers in various academic conferences based on their researches. The accumulation of ethnographical studies of cities of South Asia which had been rarely conducted is itself a remarkable contribution for the development of the study of cities of this area. Through these studies the following three points became clear. Firstly, the sacredness and the kingship have played traditionally a very important role for the formation of south Asian cities. Secondly, the traditional features of cities disappeared through the penetration of consuming culture, and the traditional social relationships in the cities have been transformed. And finally, religious practices are playing an important role again in the reconstruction of neighbourhood against these social trends.