Open AccessWhat Are Memories Made of?: A Migrant Community's Experience of Agency in 18 th Century Hyderabad, India
Author(s) -
WAGHRAY HEMA MALINI
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
ethnographic praxis in industry conference proceedings
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1559-8918
pISSN - 1559-890X
DOI - 10.1111/1559-8918.2019.01253
Subject(s) - agency (philosophy) , urdu , ethnography , hinduism , sociology , state (computer science) , gender studies , bengali , media studies , social science , anthropology , art , religious studies , philosophy , linguistics , literature , algorithm , computer science
This gallery exhibit is a slice of micro history of the Brahma Kshatriya Community of Hyderabad‐ a migrant Hindu community that moved into a Muslim dominated city in mid‐1700s, with Urdu as the state language until 1948. At one level, agency is constituted by creating this archive with data gathered through ethnographic in‐depth interviews, collecting photographs, videos, maps, artifacts and diaries. Agency at another level is where this diverse community constituted itself as a group with shared set of rules and institutions related to cooperation, interdependence, a way of life that was culturally syncretic, supporting education, providing financial support to members, setting up social and religious reforms to enable a progressive outlook and lay a foundation for stable growth.