University of Victoria

Development Sociology III: Culture

This session invites papers on the sociology of development. Social forces often play a significant role in shaping not only economic development, but also human, social and political development. Works are invited that examine the social causes and/or consequences of development, broadly defined. Papers may explore any unit of analysis (local, regional, national or international) – case studies and comparative analyses are particularly welcome.

This session will be cross listed with the Canadian Association for the Study of International Development.

Session Chair: Liam Swiss, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Session Discussant: Andrew Dawson, Université de Montréal

Session Organizer: Andrew Dawson, Université de Montréal, andrew.dawson@umontreal.ca

Convenient Citizens: India's New Rich and the Politics of Indifference

Patrick Inglis, City University of New York Graduate Center, patrickinglis@gmail.com

The paper uses participant observation and interviews at private golf clubs in Bangalore, India to challenge conceptions about India’s new rich. The debate on the new rich typically hinges on an evaluation of moral commitments to society and others, especially regarding the poor. Economists and business writers, for example, welcome the economic ambition and cosmopolitan outlook of the new rich as a contribution to the greater good. Critics, meanwhile, deplore the materialism in this group and an apparent disdain for the poor, manifest in walled off gated communities and shopping centers. For or against, the new rich are often treated as a homogenous unit. This paper, instead, highlights the experiences of select members at these clubs, among them entrepreneurs and white-collar professionals. These members, as the paper shows, embody the new spirit of capitalism in India, and, at the same time, embrace liberal values of freedom, justice, and equality. Rather than see these as distinct, contradictory aims, the paper considers how members’ relationships with the poor who work at the clubs—specifically the golf caddies who carry their sets—help them meet their obligations as capitalists and citizens, while still leaving the wider problem of poverty and inequality untouched.

Friday June 7, 2013 05:00 PM - 06:30 PM Building: Elliott Building, Room: E-160

An Institutional Ethnography of Women Entrepreneurs and Rural Development in Kyrgyzstan

Deborah Dergousoff, Simon Fraser University, Department of Sociology/Anthropology, ddergous@sfu.ca

During the dominant Soviet-era, Soviet rationalism was considered superior to non-Russian ways of knowing, particularly where traditional Central Asian peoples were concerned. Today Central Asian cultures are not only subjected to the devaluing of traditional knowledges but also that of the Soviet rationalism and communist principles that organized their political, economic, and to some extent social lives throughout the Soviet era. Just as in the Soviet era, common forms of cultural tradition and belief practiced over the ages and persisting throughout a long history of conquest and invasion are considered backward and irrelevant to establishing modern political and economic relations in Kyrgyzstan today. This paper demonstrates the way I have used IE to investigate processes of 'development' that enter into village life to inform and legitimize particular understandings of poverty and economic development that may not be appropriate for the local context. The problematic I investigate is why despite years of feminist research and input into development work, local participation in development processes still involves an international NGO bringing pre-packaged programs to a village and asking them to choose which ones they would like? My intent is not to criticize work that is often developed with the very best of sensitivity and intentions, but rather to explain why so much effort continuously leads to the same minimal effect.

Friday June 7, 2013 05:00 PM - 06:30 PM Building: Elliott Building, Room: E-160

Identity Formation in Croatian diaspora in Calgary (1980-1995): a case study analysis of diaspora letter-writing and remittance requests

Ana-Marija Petrunic, University of Calgary, ampetrun@ucalgary.ca , Josipa Petrunic, University of Toronto, josipa.petrunic@utoronto.ca

The present paper offers an exploratory analysis of a sample of letters between Croatian immigrants living in Calgary and family members living in central Croatia throughout the 1980s and 1990s. This initial exploratory study starts by mapping the language used in those letters to identify themes of "being Canadian" as well as themes of "responsibility at home", where "home" is understood to be in Croatia.

This paper explores two research questions:

To what extent, and in what ways, did Croatian diaspora members in the 1980s and 1990s in Calgary develop a Canadian identity? (exploring the local-Canadian axis)
To what extent, and in what ways, did remittances by Croatian diaspora members in the 1980s and 1990s solidify relationships to the "home" country? (exploring the transnational-home country axis)

By exploring these two axes of migrants' home-host country identities, researchers can better account for the ways in which Croatian diasporic members "became Canadian" in the 1980s and 1990s, while also remaining tied to their home country identities through complex remittance structures prior to the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.

Friday June 7, 2013 05:00 PM - 06:30 PM Building: Elliott Building, Room: E-160