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个不同规模的城市共进行了50多次田野调查，并在各种学术会议上发表了91篇论文，阅读了27篇论文。很少进行的南亚城市民族志研究的积累，本身就是对这一地区城市研究发展的一项显着贡献。通过这些研究，明确了以下三点。首先，神圣和王权在传统上对南亚城市的形成起着非常重要的作用。其次，通过消费文化的渗透，城市的传统风貌消失了，城市中传统的社会关系发生了变革。最后，宗教习俗在与这些社会趋势背道而驰的邻里重建中再次发挥着重要作用。

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.