Paper Abstract

[Kamal Adhikary]

Dear Colleagues: 
	The following is an abstract of "THE PLACE OF STORIES:INDIA, 
RESEARCH. WRITING " by Kirin Narayan, University of Wisconsin, Madison:

	India is often viewed as a place saturated with traditional
narratives: myths, legends, folktales. Such stories are regularly cited in
ethnographies  to exemplify deep rooted values and beliefs. However,
ethnographers do not appear to ask tellers or their audiences how they 
would interpret their stories. I argue that abstracting folk narratives from
performance settings and from local exegeses serves to freeze these as
portraits of traditional India. Drawing on my research on women's tales in
Kangra, N.W. India, I argue that in research we should  closely attend to
how the people we desscribe themselves view stories, and in writing we
should keep their interpretive voices distinct from our own. Resituating
stories in contested social and interpretive contexts alerts us to the
forces of change in contemporary India.

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 You can also view the above abstract at:

http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/subject/s.asia.sem.962.html

I hope to post her full paper soon.
Thanks.
kamal

 _______________

Kamal R. Adhikary, Ph.D.
Internet Coordinator, Asian Studies
UT, Austin, Texas 78712
Tel:512-475-6034
Email:kamal at asnic.utexas.edu