No Title
Rajeshwari Rao
THE REMEMBERED VILLAGE by M.N. Srinivas Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1977, 150 pp., 60.00
May-June 1977, volume 2, No 3

Ethnography is an art not very different from writing a novel. It is holistic. The anthropologist submerges his own special professional interest to study the whole society. But the person­ality of this author remains distinct and accounts for part of the uniqueness of the monograph.

We must thank Professor Srinivas for cat­ching the fast-changing village scene at a point in time when changes were many but had not swept all before them. Perhaps the fact that Professor Srinivas be­longs to a society by birth and part up­bringing not so different from the one he has described in the book makes the picture authentic, catching the nuances of relationships, beliefs and values and is also the reason why he has been able to see the society on its own terms, and attribute meanings given to actions by the participant himself. He is critical with regard to the standard of observation, but uncritical at the society itself because his empathy with the society is so great.

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