Disappointments

Any research journey is bound to contain its share of setbacks and disappointments. What I’ve encountered thus far is comparatively tame, but nonetheless I want to share them with you. Right now I am doing urban anthropology on a space soon to be incorporated into Ahmedabad’s most ambitious development scheme; a development that has largely come to represent Ahmedabad’s modernity and arrival as a global competitor. This research is, by design, oriented towards the Indian urban experience and its social negations with “globalization”. This research is for my Master’s thesis and because I’m studying Urban & Regional Planning it was necessary to produce a Master’s thesis relevant to this field. Don’t get me wrong, I am passionate about this research and constantly find compelling reasons to pursue the subject deeper. However, my real research interests lie elsewhere, in the village. For generations, lip service has been paid to the villages in India. Even as recently as 2005, during a speech inaugurating the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM) Prime Mister Manmohan Singh said, ” “. Even the first Prime Minster Jawaharlal Nehru (in who’s honor this urban mission was named) spoke about the villages as sites of backwardness to be industrialized. I am convinced that only one person during the time of India’s independence from British rule understood the significance of the village, MK Gandhi. Only later to be nicknamed “Mahatma”, Gandhi always worked towards a place for the village in future India. There is a general notion (certainly produced in the city) that the city is the site of civility, development, morality and the future. In contrast to the city is placed the village, a site of backwardness, underdevelopment, tradition and the past. Out of this it is assumed that people from the village are ignorant, undeveloped, and uncivilized. Thus, we (the stewards of development) must develop them. From this logic, entire rural areas are absorbed under the influence of cities and set of the path of urbanization. This stigmatization of rural ways of life is simply unsustainable and reveals far more about cities (and how urbanism is constructed and maintained) than it does villages. Gandhi said the village has a future in India. To me this suggests the village can exist in relation to the city, not opposed to it. Finding some way out of this opposition, while at the same time addressing the very real challenges present in villages, will be one of the greatest challenges for the future of village and the city in the 21st century. This is where Dr. GN Devy comes into the picture. In 2001 he started a rural academy for tribals (adivasis) in Tejgadh. But before doing anything, Dr. Devy went and just listed to villagers for almost 3 years. This is one of the most profound departures from rural development. Without elaborate models, urban-centric NGO’s (non-governmental organizations; aka non-profits) or international funding he sat with villagers and first became familiar with their stories.

The arguments for my research haven’t won anyone over. And here’s where the disappointment comes, I have applied for a Fulbright for 2 years now in order to fund this research and have been denied both times. I just found out last week that I was denied for the second time. Although this is a major setback for me and the research I feel needs to be done, this denial has only motivated me to find other sources funding. I’m meet Dr. Devy in Tejgadh in April and hopefully we can map a way forward. 

I mentioned in a previous post that my iPhone5 was recently stolen. This has been a major setback. I was walking in the market that I’m studying and at some point my iPhone was taken right out of my pocket. He was the best thief ever! He stole it on Sunday and called on Monday asking for the passcode to my phone (bold thief). I eventually tracked my phone to Surat. I travelled there on Thursday to no avail. Police in both cities have been notified and hopefully I’ll get it back but I’m not too optimistic. Anyways, trying to recover this phone wasted my entire week. This leads into my next disappointment.

I am significantly behind my research and writing schedule. I have already missed one paper presentation at Ball State University because I didn’t make the time to develop a paper. Likewise, I will probably miss submitting an abstract for the Madison conference (the largest conference for scholars of South Asia) because the submission deadline comes right in the middle of my fieldwork and its hard to offer arguments and conclusions in an abstract when I don’t have any yet.

Anyway these are just a few of my setbacks and disappointments at the moment. Hopefully things will look up soon.