Thrilled to receive my copy of A Punjabi Village in Pakistan – Perspectives on Community, Land, and Economy by Zekiye Eglar, for which I wrote the Introduction, Conclusion, and Bio-note about Eglar, a Russian-Turkish anthropologist, protegee of Margaret Mead at Columbia University. Eglar provides a fascinating account of village life in Punjab, Pakistan, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, when she lived in Mohla, a village not far from Gujranwala.
The OUP publication has compiled her out-of-print award-winning book (A Punjabi Village in Pakistan, Columbia University Press 1960) and its until-now unpublished sequel, (The Economic Life of a Punjabi Village), from a manuscript that Eglar’s friend and protege Fazal Chowdhry brought to the attention of Mary Catherine Bateson (prominent anthropologist, Mead’s daughter).
(I worked on the project for two years under Mary Catherine Bateson’s supervision, recommended to her by our mutual friend, the Iranian anthropologist Shahla Haeri).
From the OUP website: “This volume contains relevant insights into Pakistani society, particularly women, which are still pertinent today, as well as a more holistic and humanistic view of village life in South Asia. Eglar’s study is useful for precisely what she focused on—the patterns of ritual service and gift exchange which underlay every facet of life in a village.”
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Filed under: Pakistan | Tagged: anthropology, early life pakistan, Gender, gift giving patterns, margaret mead, Pakistan, punjabi village, vartan bhanji, zekiye eglar | 1 Comment »
Journeys to democracy 