Cultural Heritage Transformations of Weddings and Marriage among Women in the Tamil and Parsi diaspora communities in India and the UK

印度和英国泰米尔人和帕西人侨民社区妇女婚礼和婚姻的文化遗产转变

• 批准号: AH/T004819/1
• 负责人: Jerri Daboo
• 金额: $ 3.52万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FT004819%2F1
• 关键词: Cultural; Heritage; Transformations; Weddings; Marriage

The network project will examine the effects of migration and diaspora on transformations of tangible and intangible cultural heritage in diaspora communities in India and the UK, and the effects this has on the homeland of origin in India. Weddings and marriage are a significant driver of migration for women, and we will focus on women in the Tamil and Parsi diasporas in Bengaluru, Mumbai, and London to examine contrasting examples of cultural heritage transformations in different communities due to both internal and external migration. Through this, we will explore what is gained, lost, exchanged and preserved in the diaspora, and how this affects the homeland in India, as well as questioning the tensions between preservation and adaptation of cultural heritage. Women are seen as bearers and preservers of cultural heritage objects and traditions, however pressures of different cultures, economics, marrying outside the community, changes in fashion, and intergenerational conflict can lead to changes to cultural heritage in the new home of the diaspora. This may create contestation over the diaspora wanting to preserve heritage as it was when they brought it with them, and the process of transformation through fitting into the new place of home. The project will conduct fieldwork in India and the UK to examine these tensions and transformations, including conducting interviews with women in the diaspora. We will also explore the economic benefit of the wedding industry in the diasporas to the homeland of India. This industry is part of globalisation and neoliberalism, and is bringing increased wealth to India through the NRI communities wanting to have a large-scale, lavish Indian wedding. Indian wedding fairs are increasingly popular in both India and the UK, and the related tourism of travel to India to buy wedding goods, and attend weddings, has led to increased economic benefit. The effects of digital technology, the internet, and social media have a major impact on the transformations of cultural heritage in the diaspora, but also act as a connector with the home, and a means of influence for changing practices at a global level.The project will bring together a team of interdisciplinary and international scholars to share research, and exchange knowledge and methodologies. This will create a multi-perspectival approach with academics in India and the UK from disciplines including archaeology, history, cultural studies, performance and ritual studies, social anthropology, and gender studies. We will meet as a team for two workshops in Bengaluru for core network discussions, including holding a public symposium. We will also share and exchange relevant literature though a scoping exercise, which will identify gaps of literature in the other country, to then approach publishers and booksellers to address this gap. In addition to the academic team, we will engage with cultural heritage institutions with curators from the DakshinaChitra museum in Tamil Nadu, and the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) in Exeter, UK, being part of the workshop discussions. Through this, we will explore how museums display and represent cultural heritage relating to weddings in both India and the diaspora, and develop new creative methodologies for the museums to engage visitors with their collections. We will show the project exhibition in both museums, and hold community engagement workshops with women from local Indian communities to engage them with the objects in the museum, and issues of migration and transformation in cultural heritage.Outputs from the project include a journal article, symposium, and literature review. There are a number of public outputs including the website, which will include extracts from the interviews, and the exhibition, which will include replicas of Tamil wedding jewellery from the RAMM collection made by jewellery craftspeople in India, and a policy document regarding abandoned women in the diaspora.

该网络项目将研究移民和侨民对印度和英国侨民社区物质和非物质文化遗产转变的影响，以及对印度原籍国的影响。婚礼和婚姻是妇女移民的重要驱动力，我们将重点关注孟加拉国、孟买和伦敦的泰米尔和帕西人散居区的妇女，以研究由于内部和外部移民而导致的不同社区文化遗产转变的对比实例。通过这一点，我们将探讨什么是获得，失去，交换和保存在散居，以及如何影响在印度的家园，以及质疑之间的紧张关系保护和适应文化遗产。妇女被视为文化遗产物品和传统的承载者和继承者，然而，不同文化、经济、与社区外通婚、时尚变化和代际冲突的压力可能导致散居国外者新家园的文化遗产发生变化。这可能会对那些希望保留遗产的散居者产生敌意，因为他们把遗产带到了他们身边，并通过适应新的家园来进行转变。该项目将在印度和英国进行实地考察，以研究这些紧张局势和转变，包括对散居国外的妇女进行采访。我们还将探讨婚礼行业在散居地的印度祖国的经济效益。这个行业是全球化和新自由主义的一部分，并通过NRI社区为印度带来了更多的财富，希望有一个大规模的，奢华的印度婚礼。印度婚礼博览会在印度和英国越来越受欢迎，到印度购买婚礼用品和参加婚礼的相关旅游业带来了越来越多的经济效益。数字技术、互联网和社交媒体的影响对散居地文化遗产的转变产生了重大影响，但也是与家庭的联系者，也是在全球范围内改变实践的影响手段。该项目将汇集一个跨学科和国际学者团队，分享研究成果，交流知识和方法。这将与印度和英国的学者建立一种多视角的方法，包括考古学，历史，文化研究，表演和仪式研究，社会人类学和性别研究。我们将作为一个团队在班加罗尔举行两次研讨会，讨论核心网络，包括举行一次公开研讨会。我们还将通过范围界定活动分享和交流相关文献，以确定其他国家的文献差距，然后与出版商和书商联系以解决这一差距。除了学术团队外，我们还将与泰米尔纳德邦DakshinaChitra博物馆和英国埃克塞特的皇家阿尔伯特纪念博物馆（RAMM）的策展人一起参与文化遗产机构的研讨会讨论。通过这一点，我们将探讨博物馆如何展示和代表与印度和海外婚礼有关的文化遗产，并为博物馆开发新的创造性方法，让游客参与他们的收藏。我们将在这两个博物馆展出该项目的展览，并与当地印第安社区的妇女举办社区参与研讨会，让她们参与博物馆的物品，以及文化遗产的迁移和转型问题。该项目的成果包括期刊文章，研讨会和文献综述。有一些公共产出，包括网站，其中将包括采访摘录，展览，其中将包括由印度珠宝工匠制作的RAMM收藏的泰米尔婚礼珠宝复制品，以及关于散居国外的被遗弃妇女的政策文件。