India is similar (or not similar) to the Bodley profile of Tribal Culture - Essay Example

Cultural dissonance: Is India similar to the Bodley’s profile of Tribal Culture? According to John H. Bodley, the famed anthropologist and of ‘Victims of progress’, a book based on the effect of industrialization on tribal cultures, culture can be defined primarily as the patterns of behavior and thinking that people living in social groups learn, create, and share. A people’s culture can be distinguished by its beliefs, rituals, dress, art, technology, and political and economic systems.

Cultures vary from place to place, with every group of people a starkly different contrast from the other in some ways, yet remarkably similar to them in others. Yet certain characteristics of them all were common. For example, culture is always based on symbols which people hold in high esteem; a culture of a region is shared by the people living in that particular society; a culture is learned, that is, it is taught to everybody in the society; and lastly, culture is adaptive; in other words, as the world and times change, culture also evolves.

When we speak of tribal culture we must remember that it varies greatly from place to place. Certain cultures in the Oceanic Islands (such as Fiji) would be cannibalistic, while tribal regions in India are staunch vegetarians. According to Bodley though, certain features are very much alike; for example, tribal cultures are predominantly agriculture based, with the natives producing their own food and not dependent on outside sources.By definition, a tribe generally consists of a few hundred people living together in settled villages.

Their chief mode of gaining sustenance is farming (horticultural or pastorical) and hunting and their economy is simple and uncomplicated. People rely more on barter, gift swapping, and labor in exchange for goods, rather than on cash and credit. Hence comparatively, their monetary status is not as complicated as those living in more industrialized cultures.Neither, in fact, is their way of living. Tribal cultures are usually not as technologically dependent, relying mostly on simple tools for work.

Their society is often divided into different lineages and ‘clans’ and most people can trace their descent to common ancestors. Every lineage and clan has a similar status in the tribe, with certain people (probably due to greater riches, or experience) are gifted with the title of ‘elders’ or ‘big men’. They are usually looked up to and have profound influence in most tribal decisions.Lastly, a tribal culture usually shares a common religion, or set of beliefs. Occasional individuals are found to have conflicting ideals but those are rare coincidences.

India is one of the largest countries population-wise, and its growing industrialization is a credit to its present and previous governments, yet most of its population is not urban, but rural based (75%, 1999). The tiny state of Arunchal Pradesh itself is home to 25 tribes, and has almost as many languages and dialects. Although much of India, due to the growing need of modernization is not as culturally cut off as Arunchal Pradesh, yet many areas have retained their tribal identity.Largely because of poverty, most villages are not able to provide themselves with better tools and technological devices, thus relying on the same methods their predecessors did.

Similarly, their buildings are as yet made of wood, and their system of governance is still based on the word of the ‘elders’. But India is a land of many contrasts. Poorer provinces such as Bihar, Orissa, Nagaland, and Tamil Nadu have tribal based societies, whereas states such as the Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Mysore, Bengal, and Goa are rich, industrialized and urban. In no context could we consider their society “tribal”.In conclusion, it is impossible to classify Indian society as primarily tribal, or industrial.

In such a giant land of contrasts, categorizations such as this become meaningless. BIBLIOGRAPHY:Bodley, John H. (1988) “Victims of Progress” Mountain View, CA: Mayfield. Breckenridge,Encyclopedia Encarta (2006 Ed.) ‘Culture’ John H. BodleyWord Count: 633