Yeah. So. I had some issues with my ISP. Practical upshot was that I had 15 essays, a quiz, and a 10-page research paper that I couldn't turn in. So Thursday night, I finally get the okay from my professor to turn them in late and still get full credit. However (gotta be a catch, right?). She has to turn in grades Saturday evening. So she gave me until noon Saturday (My time, Central... She's in Pacific) In about 2 hours time I did all the essays (which I'd done the readings for when assigned) including citing sources, as well as taken the test. So. Tonight was for working on the Research Paper. I find myself doing anything BUT working on it, and it's a full quarter of my grade for the class! Here I am writing a blog about writing the paper instead of writing the ding-dang paper. The topic is an engaging one, though, and I find myself having difficulty keeping emotion out and objectivity in. Bride Burning.
Edit: turned it in with a whole 7 minutes to spare!
If anyone is interested, here is a list of my sources:
- Yasui, B. (1996). Bride-burning claims hundreds in India. CNN Online. Retrieved May 16, 2008, from http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9608/18/bride.burn/index.html
- Lakhani, A. (2005). Bride-Burning: The "Elephant in the Room" Is Out of Control. Rutgers. Retrieved May 16, 2008, from http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~rcrlj/articlespdf/lakhani.pdf
- Powell, A. (1998). Conference on Bride-Burning in India To Be Held at Harvard. The Harvard University Gazette. Retrieved May 16, 2008, from http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/ 1998/12.03/bride.html
- Parameswaran, R. (1994, February 17). Coverage of "Bride Burning" in the Dallas Observer. Frontiers. Retrieved May 16, 2008, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3687/is_199601/ai_n8740206
- Fisher, M. P. (2002). Living Religions: A brief introduction. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
- Thakur, H. (1999, June). Are our sisters and daughters for sale? India Together Online. Retrieved May 16, 2008, from http://www.indiatogether.org/wehost/nodowri/stats.htm
- Iqbal, A. (2007, February 8). Bride Burning — in the name of dowry. Aisha — Perpetually Befuddled. Retrieved May 16, 2008, from http://aishaiqbal.blogspot.com/2007/02/bride-burning.html
- King, L. R. (2000). Night Work. New York: Bantam.
- Bantwal, S. (2007). The Dowry Bride. New York: Kensington Publishing Corp.
Comments
Well then . . .
You'd better get to it hadn't you?
Me, I'm on gardening, but instead I too am sciving for a few moments, but there you go.
Bet of luck
NB
I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way.
Hmmm
Bride burning or bridge burning.. the first, oh there's a quaint Indian custom called Sutee or sati... bridges... I guess any modern war anywhere. I suppose an enterprising chap could organise the two to run parallel. C'mon Edeyn get it together, focus dearie. That Nick chappy can lift 'is game too.
Kristina
I did! :)
I've mowed all the green stuff--I'd like to say "lawns", but it's mainly couch grass, dandelions, daisies and moss. Nevertheless, job's done and now I don't feel so bad coming up here and conversing with you lot.
:)
Just call me Incapability B
I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way.
Sati
I have a story about a hijira choosing to take a wife's place on the funeral pyre. It's unposted as I'm still tinkering with it (I spend most of my working life with Indian colleagues, and learn something new about their cultures every day), and even when it's finished I don't think it'll work for western readers.
I would be interested
In reading it, once you've finished.
cultural differences
It sounds interesting, but I think I'd need a few footnotes to understand it, or at least keep google or wikipedia running in another window.
I'm all for cultural diversity
...but fucked up is fucked up. Thank God for Karma.
May the perpetrators all be reincarnated as Presto logs!
~~~Om nama Shivaya, Laika
What borders on stupidity?
Canada and Mexico.
.
I reach for my gun
Whenever I hear the words 'cultural differences' I think of out Western inability to understand Islamist suicide bombers, and the sketch from 'Beyond the Fringe' where Peter Cook sends Jonathan Miller on a futile suicide mission, in a parody of British warfilms from the period.
Forcing immolation on someone is barbaric, but sati is often shown in Indian culture as a noble act, an act of love. You could compare it to the Roman Catholic church's martyred saints. Of course it's dangerous to romanticise this, especially where most modern instances of sati occur in communities where women are treated as chattels.
My story sees a Brahmin funeral where the wife lies beside her dead husband on the pyre, but only as part of the ritual and steps down before it is lit. Her place is taken by a hijira who had been the husband's concubine, as she rushes forward the man's sons try to stop her, but the eldest forces them to allow her to burn alongside their father because she loved himm more than their mother. The story's told through the eyes of the hijira's chela (a younger hejira). I completed a version of it in January, but wanted to read more Hindu mythology before carrying on... it's currently on the backburner (along with everything else).
A little bit of cultural resonance for BCTS... hijiras begin as chela (student) to an older hijira guru - it's not uncommon for chelas to call their guru 'mummy' :)
a while back
I read two books, novels based in India. My mothers family comes from that Anglo Indian world. The first was The Far Pavilions, sorry can't remember the second. Later I saw a mini series very well done, Amy Irving looking absolutely gorgeous. Anyway there is a a large scene of a funeral and the the whole sutee/sati tradition. I'm sure there are others, but that's the only one I know. That henna palm print on a column.. there's your cultural differences. Whoo boy.
Kristina
ps I knew you'd get there in time.