Exploring the Acoustemology in Khasi and Goan Spaces Fieldwork EP

The lecture delivered by Dr Sebanti Chatterjee on “EXPLORING THE ACOUSTEMOLOGY IN KHASI AND GOAN SACRED PLACES”, happened on the 23 rd of April 2022, from 11 am to 1 pm.

The lecture started by emphasizing how important it was to listen closely to the sounds of the music. In between the lecture, we played a YouTube Video of the choir, through which Dr Sebanti had been able to do the Acoustemology of the Khasi Tribe. We then learned about the societal influence and the history of the land through the kinds of music and sound produced. 

Dr Sebanti explained the origin of the word Acoustemology. Anthropologist and ethnomusicologist Steven Feld coined the term in 1992 through reflections on his research among the Kaluli of Papua New Guinea. Feld observed that the Kaluli had a sophisticated understanding and appreciation of their sound-rich rainforest environment; the sound was ‘central to making sense, knowing, and experiential truth’ (1996:97). Forest sounds were closely bound up with Kaluli notions of place and emplacement but were also integrated into local cosmology, poetry, and song. Building upon and critiquing existing vocabulary for theorizing human engagement with sound (such as Murray Schafer’s ‘soundscape’ and ‘acoustic ecology’), Feld used acoustemology to describe an accumulated set of hearing, listening and sounding practices consolidated as culture.

The different colonial histories of both the lands had a significant influence on the kinds of music these lands produced. The Goan sacred places showcased the continuation of the use of Konkani through the music and the catholic sacred places’ rituals and culture. The catholic population of Goa has retained Konkani.

Dr Sebanti would attend the practice sessions of several choirs in Shillong and try to understand th
e variety of different regions. It was noted that the Welsh and Khasi dialects are the same, but not their language.

Through her work, she mainly questioned the notion of “sacred” and what it means to people in these areas. She also looked at how faith functions. She claimed that the sacredness was not just in the worship but in the practice of this music, the dedication and passion also made it sacred.

Boundaries of Self-Care

 

The Department of Sociology and Social Work Student Association organized an event to promote and broaden our understanding of Self-Care as part of the ‘Faculty Charcha’ Edition 2. The event was hosted by Mr Harishankar Vasudevan, who is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology.  Mr Vasudevan started the talk by asking the students how they understood the term stress and what its implications are. After establishing the negative effects of stress, he emphasized the importance of self-care and regulating stress. It was an interesting and interactive session.

It was highlighted during the session how engagement in self-care sometimes releases stress while sometimes the whole plan stresses people out. Mr Vasudevan outlined how self-care is different for everybody and one has to find out what works for them and what doesn't .“Self-care is not always an end on its own, it too has its own boundaries.”

These were the words that Mr Vasudevan truly believed in. He shared an interesting thought about how our brain is intended to protect us from potential dangers and therefore how the mind is trained to overthink in different situations.

Mr Vasudevan further explained the different types of self-care, cognitive, social, physical and emotional. The importance of managing time was also briefly discussed. The session ended with questions and reflections from the students on how to manage stress and what they do when facing a challenge along with the emphasis on the importance of self-love in self-care.

The Session was concluded with a brief address by the professor reinstating the core values of the talk.

Fieldwork - From Sociology to Socio-Le-Joy

Dr Sriram Devanathan accepted our invitation to lecture on “Fieldwork - From Sociology to Socio-le-joy”. This event took place on the 19th of April 2022 from 4 pm to 5 pm, the audience constituted the students from 2MSOC and 4MSOC. Sir started by putting out questions for the audience, drawing a pyramid with different subjects at different levels. He put social sciences at the base of the pyramid, and at the top of it was Mathematical Science. Having drawn this on the board, he asked us about what we considered the most complex subject. It was concluded that social sciences had to be the most complex subject. Dr Sriram justified this answer by pointing out that there are no essential laws in social sciences. It happens so because social sciences are too complex to follow laws. He classified the main components of the fieldwork: Needs Assessment, Choice of lenses for the study, Analysis, Solution Development and Assessment

This framework of fieldwork would help in a holistic implementation of the solutions that researchers land. Dr Sriram gave examples of two villages; in one Village where vocational training in Fabric Painting was being provided to the Village women. After two batches, the funders of this project wanted to know how these graduated batches used these learned skills. It was later found out that there was no job market for the same available. With this, Dr Sriram put across a question: people have been talking about development; why is inequity still there?

For this, he reasoned out possible factors. One big reason would be the lack of holistic implementation. He claimed that for solution development, we require holistic development. For this, he gave an example from his experience, he and his team had given a group of SHG women training for the same, but there was still no progress. It was later understood that because of patriarchy, men did not let these women use their opportunities as they used to make them feel threatened.

Dr Sriram listed three vignettes from his experiences of fieldwork-

1. Harirampura, Rajasthan

2. Attapady, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu

3. Joona Kathiwada, Madhya Pradesh

The Village Harirampura, as Dr Sriram described, belonged to a caste Meena. This Village had no bathrooms or toilets and no running water until 2018. This essentially meant that in the eyes of the government, this Village did not exist. This Village had one government school, which had classes up to 8th grade, and this building had two rooms to it.

The message that was learned from this particular Village was that even though researchers wanted to bring development for these villagers, the development always happened among themselves. They would not accept anything that the team had brought for them, instead, they would show immense hospitality towards the team of researchers. This team created smokeless “chulhas” for the villagers.

The Village Attapady, at the borders of both Kerala and Tamil Nadu, had three tribes living it- Irula, Maduga, and Kurumba tribes. A tragic story attached to the women of this Village was first narrated. The women were impregnated and abandoned by the men from Tamil Nadu. Hence these women were essentially excommunicated from their society. The men beat up women at home, and the forest officials did not care much about it. The women of the Village narrated these incidents to the team that had arrived almost hopelessly, as they had witnessed a lot of teams coming but ending up making no change.

The last Village that Dr Sriram talked to us about was Joona Kathiwada, located in Madhya Pradesh. This Village was four hours from Vadodara. There were only 330 residents until 2015. This Village was nestled at the foothills of a hill range with a beautiful Jharna at about 45 minutes to one hour walk. There was one Anganwadi, and this Village was essentially agriculture-based. It was noticed that no one from the Village had been able to escape the trap of poverty. Dr Sriram also pointed out that the depiction of the same Village by the Nobel Laureate Abhijit Bannerjee contradicts many aspects of what he experienced during his visit. He also noted some excellent artistry inside the homes in these villages. These villages also had signs of a healthy nature and environment. The villagers executed a “Live and let live” mentality.

Dr Sriram ended the lecture with a quote from Tagore:
“I slept and dreamt that life was a joy,
I awoke and saw that life was service,
I acted and behold, service was joy.”

Queering Media: A talk on LGBTQ+ Representation in Media

On 12th April 2022, the Gender and Sexuality cell under the EDI unit of the Department of Sociology and Student Work Association organized a talk on “Queering media”, which focused on one main topic: “Representation of LGBT+ in media” and the following sub-topics: “Perception of Sapphic relationships in Indian Media”, “ Impact of positive queer media representation on children and young adults” and “Coming out as a process”. The event was open to all departments, and 66 people were in attendance.

The keynote speaker was Ms Prarthana, Christ alumni and content creator. As mentioned above, her talk focused on the incorrect perception and representation of Sapphic relationships in Indian Media and how that impacts the LGBT+ community. Further, she shed light on the lack of positive queer representation and how Indian films often use queer characters for trauma porn, i.e., using queer characters as bait or as a“further addition” to the plot. She talked about the importance of having positive queer representation in Media and gave examples of “Schitt’s Creek” and “Love, Simon” and how it helps in the coming out process and affirming queer identities. She also discussed the intersectionality of being queer and Indian. She spoke about how the Indian queer community is often met with white stereotypes and prejudices that they cannot relate to, and she stressed the need to have more Indian queer representation. She concluded her talk by strongly emphasizing the need to properly represent queer characters in Indian media and holding Indian Media accountable for false representation and misinformation of the LGBT+ community.

After the talk, the floor was open to the audience to interact, ask questions to the speaker or contribute their viewpoints to the event. Seven people came to the forum to discuss the same. This was followed by a vote of thanks given by one of the emcees who concluded the event.

Sambandh 2022: The Annual Sociology Fest

SAMBANDH, literally meaning relationships and the celebration of the same, is the Sociology Fest organized by the Department of Sociology and Social Work Student Association. With the past two years standing as a testimony to the collective vulnerability of human society, this year's theme is Melting Pot which commemorates the centrality of inclusivity, a need that is felt across the world.

The fest aimed to establish an active platform for students to traverse the range of their creativity and talent by allowing them to be a part of many events. Sambandh was a mix of group and individual events to encourage the participation of students with varied interests. The fest began on 5th April 2022 and continued until 11th April 2022 with a wide range of events from literature to culture to conversations.

Sambandh aims to identify and explore the multiple hues of human connections in an irrationally dynamic environment to empower free-minded students by revealing the essentiality of having a voice, hoping that its expression would make discrimination-based adversity less likely.

Inauguration

5th April 2022

The session started with the invocation song sung by Vandhana Reddy of 2PSECO followed by the watering of the plant by the dignitaries. The welcome address was given by Dr Victor Paul, Head of the Department of Sociology and Social Work, who talked about how Sambandh is a celebration of Sociology as a discipline. Dr Tony Sam George, Dean of the School of Social Sciences then graced the session with his thoughts about college fests and the value they bring to a student’s life. The session was then addressed by the keynote speaker for the evening Dr Kshitij Urs, who is an advocate and an adjunct professor at National Law School Bangalore. He questioned the audience about what is the true meaning of inclusion and how it came into our vocabulary. He further gave anecdotes from his life and examples from his reading to provide a unique understanding of inclusivity and inclusion. The music performance by Moses of 2MSoc marked the end of this session. 

 The event was concluded by the Vote of Thanks given by Ramya Mohini Yerram of 4PSEco to all dignitaries, faculty members, and the audience.

Open Mic

6th April 2022

 The Open Mic was the first event of SAMBANDH which was held on 6th April 2022 at the Island outside Block1. This event took place in two phases, one from 1-2 pm and another from 4-5 pm. This event was coordinated by Devarchita Sen of 6PSEco.

Open Mic was an event primarily meant for all those students who wanted to showcase their talent. Be it Music, Dance, Poetry or even Stand-up Comedy, no stone was left unturned during open mic. Both of the phases were hosted by Ishita Kapoor of 4PSEco. The crowd was hyped up and excited with cheers and claps abound. The open mic was a great opportunity to invite the participation of students belonging to different cultures promoting the theme of Sambandh'22, Melting Pot - Celebrating Inclusivity.

Open Mic began with a melodious performance by Steewa who performed – Always Remember Us This Way from Star is Born just like how all of us will remember this beautiful fest. It was then followed by several performances of poetry, music and dance. The event came to an end when Sambandh volunteers presented a very enthusiastic flash mob which attracted the crowd and it marked the perfect beginning to Sambandh 2022.

Short Film

6th April 2022

The short film was a group event conducted online. It gave a wonderful opportunity for students interested in cinematography and other related fields to showcase their skills and help to digitalize sociological perspectives.

The theme of the Short Film event was " Same Story, Different Perspective". It was conducted online. Each film required a maximum of 10 members including writers, actors, editors and directors. The duration of a short film was between 3-10 minutes. The submission of the film was online. The volunteers were constantly tracking the incoming submissions and collected them for judgement.

Finally on the valedictory the results were announced, where the winner of the event was Vishruth Bajaj and his team members from 2PSEng. The topic of their film was " Perfect Day" which aligned perfectly with the expected theme of the event along with the overall theme of the fest's inclusivity.\

Reel Making

6th April 2022

Reel Making Competition was another online event of SAMBANDH. The topic of the reel was Food: A Universal Emotion which was revealed 24 hours before the submission on 5th April 2022. Submissions came in, before 11:59 pm on 6th April 2022.

The reels started flooding in the next 12 hours and our volunteers were actively tracking all the reels. The variety and creativity used in making those reels were fascinating. Everyone had their unique take on the topic where some highlighted their home food and some their favourite. There were people who used our campus as a setting and some who got their family members and friends equally involved.

The result of the competition was revealed at the Valedictory event held on 11th April 2022. The first position was awarded to Prerna Jain of 4PSECO and the second place was taken by Rushali Arora of 2PSECO.

Face Painting

8th April 2022

Face painting was an event which provided every artist to display their skills through face painting. It was an event where the artist got a unique canvas to paint their hearts out which was their team member’s faces. This event took place at Gazebo in Birds Park. This event was coordinated by Monica and Teethi of 4MSoc.

The theme for the event was Mandala and Tribal patterns. All the participants entered the competition in pairs. There were 8 teams and each member brought their own brushes and paints. The competition lasted for 90 mins. After the time was over, each participant's face model was photographed for judgement. It was observed by the documenters that people started with smaller strokes in the beginning to bold and more experimentative painting styles in the ending stages of the competition.

The event was judged by Dr Maya M where the first position was awarded to Biyankah and Asees from 4PSEng and the second position was awarded to Sibani and Shinjini from 4EPS.

Art Relay

7th April 2022

Art relay is a painting and sketching competition that was held on 7th April 2022 in Birds Park from 4-6 pm This event was hosted by Sara Jain, 2PSEco. Art Relay was a unique event where we mixed up Chinese whispers along with art to make it a fun and energized competition.

 

Sara hosted and hyped up everybody and provided them with all the guidelines. Participants came in groups and were allotted group numbers. Eventually, the topic was revealed to one participant from each group. The theme for the event was Inclusivity in Relationships.

Each group was timed for 5 minutes and monitored to avoid the revelation of the topic to other participants. The competition lasted 45 mins which consisted of three rounds of 15 mins each. By the end of the competition, all the paintings were collected and sent to Dr Reena Cherian for judging this event.

The result of the competition was revealed at the Valedictory event held on 11th April 2022. The first position was awarded to Steewa, Bhadra and S.Gopikarani from 2EPS. The second position was awarded to Eliza, Ishita and Gaurika from 4PSEco.

Just a Minute

7th April 2022

Just a Minute or JAM was one of the literary events of SAMBANDH and was held on 7th April 2022 from 4-5 pm in a classroom set up in Block I.

This event began with the host Ramya warmly welcoming the judge for the event, Miss Dipali Mallya, Assistant Professor from the English Department. There were 2 rounds that were conducted under the event where in the first round the participants were given a topic on the spot and after a brief moment they were expected to speak on the topic. The range of topics was appreciated by all the participants and the judge. After that came the second round of the event Just a Minute where the topic is given was 'More Money, More Problems' where the participants had to voluntarily start talking about the topic and if the participant stumbled, somebody else could pound over that chance and speak smoothly. The participants were so engrossed with the discussions that their dialogue continued even after the 5-minute allotted time.

Overall, the event went smoothly through and through. All the participants really enjoyed exploring their talent for dialogue. Upon getting the judge's remarks on the event Ma'am felt that the material that was spoken on in both rounds was relevant and didn't lack quality at all. Ma'am personally enjoyed JAM which was round 2 of the events. The result of the competition was revealed at the Valedictory event held on 11th April 2022 where the first position was awarded to Aryaman Shukla 2PSEco and second place was awarded to Ananya Sunil Nair of 4PSEco.

Literary Potpourri

8th April 2022

Literary Potpourri the creative writing event of SAMBANDH held on 8th April from 12-1 pm. The Ramya Mohini Yerram of 4PSECO hosted the event.

 

The session started with a total of 8 participants from EPS, PSECO and the media department. The brief of the event given to the participants was that they were supposed to write an original piece of writing on the given topic and in the given writing style within a limited period of time. The event started with the participants being given a topic to write a “Haiku”. Haiku is a Japanese form of poetry with three lines of five, seven and five syllables. The topic for writing the Haiku was “Resilience” and the participants were given a total of 15 mins to complete their writing. After the end of 15 mins, the participants were then given the topic of “Struggle and hope” to write flash fiction.

The participants were happy about the event's location as they enjoyed writing in nature. They felt that the prompts given were open-minded and challenged their creativity in the best way possible.

The winners of this event were Saniya Gariyali, 4PSEco bagging the first position and Ananya Srrikant, 4PSEco the second position.

Fluid Fashion

8th April 2022

The Fluid Fashion event was conducted on the 8th of April, 2022. This event was based on the theme of gender fluidity, and expressing one's gender identity through their clothes, in their own unique way, with the message that they want to send across. One of the most unique and novel events of Sambandh, 2022 was the Fluid Fashion Show, held in Birds Park on the 8th of April. Along the lines of inclusivity, which was the theme of Sambandh 2022, this event was designed to celebrate gender fluidity and gender expression. The event was judged by Miss. Taskeen Bhat expressed her excitement and interest in the theme. She also said that such an event is extremely important in today's world and appreciated the endeavour of the student body in organizing the same.

Before the main event began, Poorvi Mishra and Sara Jain of 2PSEco engaged the crowd’s attention with a short yet enthusiastic dance performance. There were 4 participants who walked the ramp in their own self-curated outfits, Sundhar V. of 6EPS, Asees Singh Sibia of 4PSEng, Allan Lepcha of 4PSEco and Kumarjit De of 2PSEco. Asees walked the ramp first, in jeans, a shirt, a corset, blazer, boots and makeup, with a theme of 'dissecting the dichotomy'. He believes that gender roles are created and with his look, made an attempt to shatter gender binaries.

Up next was Sundhar, in a simple traditional outfit of a shirt and veshti, with the theme of 'expressing oneself without keeping in mind the gender norms posed by society.' He emphasized the importance of natural beauty and inner beauty. Following this was Allan, who wore a long skirt, and a traditional top which was a symbol of his roots, along with makeup and earrings. He wanted to represent "an amalgamation of masculinity and femininity with some tribal influence" and was a crowd favourite with his story and childhood analogy. Last but definitely not the least, was Kumarjit De. 

"Shattering gender norms in a black attire, as a symbol of protest against the imposition of gender binaries". In a black shirt, black skirt and maroon corset, with beautiful makeup, Kumarjit walked the ramp with pride and confidence; and was later declared the winner.

This event proved to be an extremely novel and one-of-a-kind experience, for the judges, participants, volunteers and audience alike. The concept was very well received by everyone and the event was a success, as the vision of the student body that went into designing this event was upheld and the participants portrayed the theme perfectly.

Blindfold Conversations Chapters 1 & 2

Blindfold conversations was an event which was held in two chapters because of its overwhelming response. The first chapter was held on 7th April 2022 in Panel Room, and the second chapter was held on 9th April 2022 in Birds Park’s Gazebo. The art of listening without judgment is somewhat cathartic in today’s world. Therefore, we had this event, which aimed at providing a safe space for the participants to interact without any preconceived notions.

 

Participants were given the option to choose from heavy prompts and light prompts. Volunteers took charge of putting blindfolds on the participants and helped them be seated with people who decided on similar prompts. Volunteers timed the conversation for 10 mins; after the conversation, volunteers asked the participants if they wanted to reveal their identities to the other person or not. The participants who chose not to disclose their identities were escorted out. This event even had several on-spot registrations. After the conversation, we had a direct chat with the participants who gave their reviews about the event since we wanted to know if the aim of the event, which was to create a safe space and an environment to talk, was achieved or not. Samyak from 2BBA said,” It was a heartwarming experience. I could rant without fear of being judged”.

It was very heartwarming to see people making new friends that day, which was facilitated by honest conversations. We also saw outside the venue how people were having an open conversation regarding the prompts being present.

Cultural Booth

11th April 2022

“With Darpan you went around the globe, with Cultural booths come have a look at our own country” This was quoted by one of the participants and as clearly seen this was the enthusiasm for the event. The Cultural booth event was held on the 11th of April 2022 at Garden Street.

The event involved classes from the Department of Sociology and Social Work setting up stalls alongside the garden street to represent the different states of India. The session started with a total of 5 groups from EPS, PSEco and PSEng.

Each class was given a set of four to five states that they represented through posters, games, folk music, dance and cuisine. 4PSENG portrayed the culture of the North-Eastern States through their display of 6 different types of teas and a game that they set up that revolves around recognizing flavour profiles. 2PSECO displayed the culture of the South Indian states through their display of ethnic costumes and cuisine. 4PSECO portrayed the culture of North India through a wide range of activities and posters along with food tasting of the ethnic cuisine. 4EPS displayed the culture of India with home-cooked food representing the different cultures.

Dr Suparna and Dr Sudipta judged the event. The judges said that all booths were very interactive and did their best to depict the cultures of the given states. In the end, it became extremely difficult for them as well to judge the event since all the teams performed extremely well. The activity became a way through which the Cultures of India came to life at Garden Street.

Valedictory Ceremony

11th April 2022

The Valedictory Ceremony was organized by the Student Association of the Department of Sociology and Social Work and was attended by Dr Victor Paul, Head of the Department of Sociology and Social Work, Dr Omprakash L.T. and faculty members of the Department. The ceremony began with the ceremonial watering of plants by the HOD along with the faculty, and Office Bearers of the Student Association. Alongside this, the invocation song was presented by Vandhana and Shreya of 2PSEco. This was followed by the Welcome Address delivered by the President of the Department of Sociology and Social Work Association (DSSWA) - Keshavi Agarwal of 4MSoc, who welcomed the crowd and expressed her gratitude to the department, volunteers and faculty for their participation and constant support throughout the culmination and execution of Sambandh.

The history and essence of Sambandh were then highlighted by Dr Suparna Majumdar Kar, a faculty member of the Department of Sociology and Social Work. In her address, Ma'am spoke about the zeal and energy that students at Christ have showcased in creating and conducting Sambandh, an event which has now been completed for 19 years. The cultural performance at the event was a graceful and engaging dance performance by Aparajita of 6PSEco, which followed the address. Finally came the most awaited part of the event, the announcement of the results. Winners for all the events were announced by Nikita, Vice President UG of DSSWA and Ramya, General Secretary UG of DSSWA. The winners were felicitated by Dr Victor Paul, HOD; and faculty members, Dr Suparna Majumdar Kar, Dr Sudipta Garai, Dr Rajeev K., Dr Omprakash L.T., and Ms Taskeen Bhat.

The event-wise winners were:

• Reels Making: 1: Prerna Jain (4PSEco), 2: Rushali Arora (2PSEco)
• Just a Minute (JAM): 1: Aryaman Shukla (2PSEco), 2: Ananya Nair (4PSEco)
• Short Film: Vishrut Bajaj (2PSEng) and his team members.
• Art Relay: 1: Steewa, Bhadra and S.Gopikarani (2EPS), 2:Eliza, Ishita and Gaurika (4PSEco)
• Fluid Fashion: Kumarjit De (2PSEco)
• Literary Potpourri: 1: Saniya Garyali (4PSEco), 2: Ananya Srikant (4PSEco)
• Face Painting: 1: Biyankah and Asees (4PSEng), 2: Sibani and Shinjini (4EPS)
• Cultural booth: 1: 4EPS, 2: 2pseco

The overall winners for the fest were 4PSEco for their commendable participation and volunteering in all the events.

The concluding address was presented by Dr Omprakash L.T., who spoke about the meaning of 'Sambandh' and the importance of human relationships, using various analogies. He also praised the student body and congratulated them on the event's success. The event came to a close with the Vote of Thanks, presented by Sara Jain, Association Representative of DSSWA.