Youth and Status in Tamil Nadu, India
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University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations Summer 2010 Youth and Status in Tamil Nadu, India Constantine V. Nakassis University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Film and Media Studies Commons, Linguistic Anthropology Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, and the South and Southeast Asian Languages and Societies Commons Recommended Citation Nakassis, Constantine V., "Youth and Status in Tamil Nadu, India" (2010). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 227. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/227 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/227 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Youth and Status in Tamil Nadu, India Abstract This sociocultural anthropological study looks at youth culture in Tamil Nadu, India, focusing on college- age youth in Madurai and Chennai. The dissertation first shows how outhy experience their position in the larger Tamil society as “being outside of.” This exteriority is manifest in youth concepts of status and gender, the signs and activities which express such status and gender, and the social spaces in which such signs and activities are played out. In particular, the dissertation focuses on how the youth peer group is dually shaped as an exterior space of youth status negotiation—as exterior to adult norms of authority (and thus a space of status-raising qua transgression) and as exterior to norms of hierarchical ranking (and thus an egalitarian space of status-leveling, intimacy, and reciprocity). It is this tension between status-raising and -lowering which the dissertation shows to be crucially at play in how youth engage with and deploy various status-ful signs. In particular, the dissertation focuses on youth’s engagement with English and Tamil-English hybridized slang, commercial hero-centered Tamil films and their heroes, and (counterfeit) Western brands and fashion. In addition to focusing on youth engagement with such forms, the dissertation also looks at the production and circulation of youth-oriented Tamil film and (counterfeit) branded garments. The dissertation argues that we can only make sense of such cultural forms and their production and circulation by situating them with respect to youth concepts of status and their negotiation in the peer group. Based on this discussion the dissertation offers critical commentary on academic literatures of globalization, film eception,r and the semiotics of the brand. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Anthropology First Advisor Asif Agha Second Advisor Greg Urban Third Advisor Ritty Lukose Keywords anthropology, media, film, brands, counterfeits, masculinity Subject Categories Film and Media Studies | Linguistic Anthropology | Social and Cultural Anthropology | South and Southeast Asian Languages and Societies This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/227 YOUTH AND STATUS IN TAMIL NADU, INDIA Constantine Valenzuela Nakassis A DISSERTATION in Anthropology Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2010 Supervisor of Dissertation Signature ___________________________ Dr. Asif Agha Professor of Anthropology University of Pennsylvania Graduate Group Chairperson Signature ___________________________ Dr. Deborah A. Thomas Associate Professor of Anthropology University of Pennsylvania Dissertation Committee Dr. Ritty A. Lukose, Associate Professor of Anthropology Gallatin School of Individualized Study, New York University Dr. Greg Urban, Arthur Hobson Quinn Professor of Anthropology University of Pennsylvania YOUTH AND STATUS IN TAMIL NADU, INDIA COPYRIGHT 2010 Constantine Valenzuela Nakassis This dissertation is dedicated to the memory of my grandmothers, Victoria Ahrensdorf and Paraskevi Nakassis. iii Acknowledgements First thanks go to my family: to my father Anastasios Nakassis for teaching me the value of creativity, the pleasure of argument, and for enough stimulating and challenging conversation and debate to last a lifetime; to my mother Carmen Valenzuela Nakassis for giving me a model of patience to aspire to, for making me take Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (taught by none other than Greg Urban), and for her unconditional love and support; to my sister Magdalena Paraskevi Nakassis for her keen eye for copyediting, helpful discussion of art, and for visiting me in the field and keeping my spirits up; and to my brother Dimitri Nakassis who in understanding the pains of dissertation writing helped me along the way with careful readings of drafts, lively discussions of ideas, and much needed advice at any time of the day or night. Thanks to my professors: to Asif Agha whose thinking has impacted mine in so many ways and continues to challenge me; thanks to Greg Urban for detailed, thoughtful, and critical feedback on the dissertation; thanks to Ritty Lukose, and Stanton Wortham for their feedback, support, and help in the dissertating process. Thanks to my classmates, with whom many of my ideas were articulated through conversations and interactions over the years: to Luke Fleming who has been a constant well-spring for good conversation, creativity, inspiration, critical thought, support, and friendship; to Melanie Dean from whom many of my best ideas were inspired and who kept me sane while we were in the field together; to Teresa Raczek who introduced me to India, getting me into adventures which eventually lead me to my dissertation project, and who was able to advise me along the dissertating process; to Seran Schug who gave a close reading of the dissertation and provided valuable comments; to Llerena Searle, iv Kyung-Nan Koh, Michael Lempert, Sabina Perrino, Michael Wiedorn, Rebecca Pardo, and Kirt Mausert who provided sounding boards and patient ears and eyes to my not always well-formed ideas and arguments. Thanks to Paul Manning, for providing valuable feedback on chapters 6–7. Thanks to Dr. Vasu Renganathan in the U.S. and Dr. S. Bharathy and Mrs. Jayanthi in India, who were invaluable resources in my queries about particular aspects of the Tamil language and its usage. Special thanks to Dr. S. Bharathy for helping to ease the bureaucratic hurdles related to my stay and research in India. Thanks to Rupa Visnawath for facilitating a FLAS fellowship which furthered the dissertation process. In the UPenn Department of Anthropology, thanks to Deborah Thomas, Robert Schuyler, Rebecca Huss-Ashmore, Zoe Beckerman, James Ashmore, Jon Poblador, Veronica Kent, and Larysa Carr who over the years made my graduate career as smooth as possible. At AIIS thanks to Purnima Mehta and Elise Auerbach for their help in overcoming bureaucratic hurdles and making my dissertation research possible. In India I benefited from a productive and supporting academic environment: special thanks to Dr. Madhavan who was instrumental to getting my research started in Madurai, who provided me with numerous fresh ideas and stimulating conversations that kept my research going productively. I could not have been luckier to have such a wonderful and intelligent interlocutor in the field. Thanks to Dr. Joseph Chinnaraj, Dr. George Selvakumar, Dr. Ebekenizer Silas and Mr. Shankaranarayanan, Dr. Joshua Devdas and Mr. David, Dr. Premila Paul, Dr. Banarbas, Mr. David, Dr. Raja Govindasami, Dr. Selvaraj, Dr. Gnanasambandam, Professor Sasikumar, Dr. Nirmala Jeyaraj, Dr. Rachel, Dr. Suka Joshua, Mrs. Jamuna, and Nora Sweeney for furthering my college research in v Madurai. Thanks to Rev. Dr. Albert Muthmalai, Dr. Victor Maria, Dr. Suresh Paul, Dr. Alex Jerome, Father Dr. Rajanayakam, Professor Regu, Father Susai, Dr. Rajendiran, Dr. Shanmugam, Dr. Thiruvengadam, and Dr. Kamalarao for furthering my college research in Chennai. Thanks to Bernard Bate for providing necessary encouragement and advice while we were both in Chennai. Thanks to B. Lenin, Hariharan Krishnan, Swarnavel Pillai, Venkatesh and Pritham Chakravarthy, Film News Anand, Ananth Krishnamoorthi, and Dr. Uma Vangal for help in my Chennai film research. In my music television fieldwork thanks to Nithil Dennis, Suriya Narayanan, Bhoopathi, Prakash, John Fernandes, Yuvaraj Annadurai, Lakshmanan Sindamai, and Anuradha Ananth for help understanding production (and for getting me on TV more than once); Sunita Raghu and Gokul for sharing insight into their work, and good meals and conversation; Pooja Gallyot, Craig Gallyot, and Paloma Rao for insight into being a VJ; and to all the other technicians and producers who made time to talk with me. In my film fieldwork thanks to: Venkat Prabhu, S. B. B. Charan, Sripathy Rangasamy, Pa. Ranjit, Suresh Mari, Pichu Mani, Venkatesh, Senthil Velayutham, Basha, Shanoob Karuvath, and Vasuki Bhaskar for letting me learn about film with them; to Kalyana Devan, Subbu, Kumarappa, Karunas, and all the directors, producers, editors, actors, technicians, and fans who made time to talk with me and further my research. Thanks to Thilakavathi, Krithika, Yagna Balaji, and Mitra for help in my research about youth print media. Thanks to the (counterfeit) brand producers, sourcing agents, distributors, and retailers for their trust and help. Thanks to Carola Kroeber and Chezhiyan for helping me with contacts in and advice on textile production. vi இந்தியாவில் இக்கும் நண்பர்கக்குிக்க ம நன்றி: ெசந்தில் குமார் –என் ஆராய்ச்சிக்காக அளவிட யாத வைககளில் நீங்கள் எனக்குச் ெசய்த உதவிகக்கும், நட்ம், அன்ம் என்ன என்ப பற்றிகுக் எனக் காட்யதற்கும் நன்றி; உங்கைடய கும்பம் எல்ேலாம் எனக்குக் காட்ய பாசத்க்கும் நன்றி. ராதா விஸ்வவாநாதன் மற்ம் கும்பத்தினர்கள் – நீங்கள்த அளித் உதவிக்கும் ஆதரக்கும், அன்க்கும், இந்தியாவில் எனக்கு இரண்டாவ கும்பமாக இப்பதற்கும் மிக்க நன்றி.“தங்க தங்ைக” விஜய்ஸ்ரீ, உமா ேதவி மற்ம் தமிழ்ச் ெசல்வி, ஜார்ஜீனா (Georgina), கர்திக், (ெசந்தில் குமாாின் தம்பி) ரவி, வராஜ்,ஸ்ரீநித்தி ெஜயேகாபால், ஹாி குமார் –ஆராய்ச்சி உதவிக்கு மிக்க நன்றி. அஷா ஹாிஹரன் – தமிழ்த் திைரப்பட கதாநாயகர்கைளப் பற்றிய சுவாரசியமான உைரக்கு நன்றி.