South Asia (esp. India)
The Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology at Leiden University has several researchers specialized in South Asia.
Dr. Erik de Maaker
Dr. Erik de Maaker
is specialized on South Asia, notably Northeast India and Bangladesh. Earlier research focused on the social and religious implications of the mortuary rituals of one of the ‘tribal’ communities of that region. Present research in the same region has shifted towards the implications of religious conversion and cultural transformation. His research proceeds from the material and ritual dimensions of religious practices, extending to topics such as the dynamics of kinship and the politization of ethnicity. Erik de Maaker is also engaged in research on contemporary mortuary practices in the Netherlands. The latter project is conducted within the framework of the NWO sponsored project ‘Refiguring Death Rites,’ of the Nijmegen Radboud University. Methodologically, he has specialized in the use of video recordings for qualitative research, as well as the production of ethnographic DVD’s and films. He is one of the founders of the Asian Borderlands Research Network.
Keywords: Religion and Ritual, Qualitative Analysis, Visual Ethnography and Material Culture, South Asia.
Dr. Marianne Maeckelbergh
Dr. Marianne Maeckelbergh
’s research focuses on the anthropology of globalization, democracy and social movements. Specifically on the decision-making practices within the alterglobalization movement and the implications these practices have for contemporary assumptions about democracy and democratic values. Her research examines prefiguration as a strategic movement practice and raises questions about what happens to democratic values when they are practiced on a global scale through network structures instead of the nation-state. Marianne Maeckelbergh’s other research interests include anthropological approaches to ‘identity’, ‘personhood’ and ‘agency’ in a context of global flows; urban social movements in India, specifically how caste, class, language and especially transnational exchanges affect the way politics is practised. Marianne’s approach is a political one based on an engaged anthropology that explores the methodological challenges posed by the need for a more ‘global’ ethnography in both the anthropology of social movements and the anthropology of development.
Keywords: Global Politics, Democracy, Social Movements, Development, Technology, South Asia.