All rooms are equipped with an overhead projector
Rooms C, D, E, F, G and H (H only on Saturday): slide projector (framed slides, carrousel. There are extra carrousels available to set up your presentation in advance)
Rooms C, D, M, N, O, U and Committee Room 2: beamer to connect your laptop. You have to bring you own laptop. (If you want to use your Apple notebook, please contact us, as it may be incompatible.)
Rooms C, T and U: VCR
Programme
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Culture of the Neighbourhood and Formation of Community Identity among the Factory Workers in Colonial India
| In this paper attempt is made to explore the neighbourhood linkages among the lower caste factory workers in colonial India and the ways in which this acted as an agency to forge a community identity among them. For the purpose of this work, themes such as the settlement patterns of neighbourhoods, the nature of leisure activities and the transformations that some sections of the lower caste factory workers underwent as a consequence of upward mobility have been taken up.
It is observed that the leisure activities, which these workers indulged in, were patterned along caste lines. At the same time, various kinds of leisure activities were perceived by the upper caste people according to the castes which indulged in them. This played a role in the creation of identities of various communities and further forged intra - community linkages.
The intra - community linkages however, were not monolithic in nature. It is observed that those sections of the lower caste workers which moved up the ladder of economic prosperity, gradually tended to emulate the leisure time indulgence pattern of the upper castes. This was a latent way of transcending the barrier of one’s own community identity and identifying oneself with the communities which commanded a dominant status in the society.
Another major factor which played a role in the formation of community identity was the settlement patterns of the neighbourhoods. The settlement pattern helped to strengthen intra - community bonds amongst caste members. This resulted in effecting the lower caste movements in colonial India.
For the purpose of this work, archival sources, references in the vernacular print media and the police records of the colonial period are useful. North Indian factory environment is the focus of this work.
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