The Social and the Symbolic

This is the second book in the three-volume seriesCommunication Processes. The essays in the volume highlight the links between culture studies and the use of communication in binding together a community, also providing a voice to the unheard and unsung.

This book argues that communication – an exchange of symbols – is the essence of society and that this exchange is the foundation on which the human collective is based. It explores how the collective sense of the self is defined either with reference to, or in defiance of, dominant existing traditions. The various essays highlight the links between culture studies and the use of communication in binding together a community as also to provide a voice to the unheard and the unsung.

Beginning by describing the pertinence of communication to grasping the overall substance of social reality, the volume is divided into the following three parts:

- Forms of self-identity: This section looks at the emergence and construction of personal and collective identities through myths, religious idioms, stories and traditions of marginalized communities.

- Grounds of work relations: Here, the contributors focus on occupations and vocations of the peasant and artisan communities of western India.

- Bonds of health practices: The focus of this section is on healthcare practices and knowledge of traditional communities.

The second in a three-volume series titled Communication Processes, this book will be of considerable interest to scholars of communication and media studies, oral studies as also social workers dealing with health practices.

Overture: Recasting ′the Social′ as ′the Symbolic′ - Bernard Bel, Jan Brouwer, Biswajit Das, Vibodh Parthasarathi and Guy Poitevin
Negotiating Modernity with Symbolic Resources - Guy Poitevin
Symbolic Facets of Medical Power - Bernard Bel
I. FONTS OF SELF-IDENTITY
Avenues of Expression
The Minas: Seeking a Place in History - Nandini Sinha Kapur
Quests for Assertion
Vadar Narratives: Dramatic Reappropriation of a Myth - Datta Shinde
Mang Narratives: Semantic Reappropriation of a Myth - Sanjay Jogdanda
Bhakti: A Faith for Rehabilitation - Guy Poitevin and Hema Rairkar
II. GROUNDS OF WORK RELATIONS
Introduction: Faculties of Correlation Editors
Integrative Links of ′the Traditional′
The Communicating Goddess of the Artisans - Jan Brouwer
The Mother Earth of the Mawal Peasant - Baban Khandbhor and Prabhakar Ghare
Disruptive Challenges of ′the Modern′
Vadar Communities: Traditional Skills in Changing Times - Datta Shinde
Parit Communities: Occupation and Survival - Suresh Kokate
III. BONDS OF HEALTH PRACTICES
Introduction: Symbolic Forms and Signs - Guy Poitevin
Between Yesterday and Today
The Slum Dwellers of Chennai: Indigenous Health Practices - S A Samy
The Vaidu: Traditional Practices and Social Status - Chandrakant Kokate
Inheritance of Knowledge
Birth Attendants: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea - Bernard Bel and Andréine Bel
Popular Culture and Childbirth: Perceptions and Practices in Rural Rajasthan - Tulsi Patel
Midwives: A Tradition on the Move in Maharashtra - Hema Rairkar
In Lieu of an Epilogue Editors