Vijaya Nagarajan
Biographic Data
| ID | 3618790 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Vijaya Nagarajan |
| GIVEN NAMES | Vijaya |
| FAMILY NAME | Nagarajan |
| SIGNATURE | NAGARAJAN V |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of San Francisco |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 4 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 15 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Narratives of the Body and Shame
Narratives of the Body and ShameDegrees of Invisibility/Visibility in Public Spaces Vijaya Nagarajan1 (bio) It is the first day of classes, spring semester, in January 2022. I am on my way to work at my university.2 I am standing at an East Bay BART station, a part of the public transportation train system in the San Francisco Bay Area. This particular day, I notice, to my surprise, that my experience in these normative public spaces is entirely …
The influence of corporate market power on health
We argue that the SCP model is well-placed to broaden public health research into the ways in which corporations influence health. In addition, the development of a comprehensive framework based on the key findings of this paper could help the public health community to better engage with a set of policy and regulatory tools that have the potential to curb the concentration of corporate power for the betterment of population health
Market strategies used by processed food manufacturers to increase and consolidate their power
Marrying Trees and Global Warming
This chapter expands the earlier discussion of embedded ecologies and argues that the daily ritual act of the kōlam is a symbol of generosity and hospitality and an act of reciprocity between the natural and cultural worlds. The auspiciousness of the kōlam is analyzed in relation to the auspiciousness of certain plants and trees, especially coconuts, bananas, mangoes, and figs. The ritual act of tree marriage is explained. Tree marriage is a remi…
Endings
This in-depth life work on the kōlam ends as it began, in the Tamil diaspora. From suburban Maryland at the beginning of the book, this work ends with a narrative about a kōlam competition in Fremont, California. In this concluding chapter, the author looks back on the lengthy process of researching and writing the book and how her understanding and appreciation for the kōlam and all it represents deepened with time and life experience. She refle…
Thresholds
This chapter draws connections between the kōlam on the threshold and the pottu (or bindi) on the forehead. These ritual marks indicate the presence or absence of auspiciousness (or mangalam ) and help prevent ritual pollution. The kōlam is an elaborate system of communication that provides clues to the powerful roles of female domesticity and householders living the moral and “good life.” Bringing together Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, good lu…
Rituals
This chapter discusses the multiple meanings attributed to the kōlam, a women’s ritual art in Tamil Nadu, India. Marking the transition of the private world to the wider public sphere, the author suggests that the kōlam is a sign of the woman householder’s health and therefore the health of her household. It serves as a form of ritual play, a sacred space, and an invitation to the goddess. The kōlam helps to ward off the evil eye, is a way to com…
Āṇṭāḷ
Combining personal narrative, analytic insight, and poetics, in this chapter the author explores the parallels between the popular ninth century Tamil saint Āṇṭāḷ and the ritual of the kōlam in Tamil Nadu. The links between Āṇṭāḷ, her devotion to Vishnu, and the kōlam present a fragmented landscape of oral and written narrative, folk wisdom, and ideology. The author finds four similar themes between the story of Āṇṭāḷ and the ritual of making the…
Following Lines of Beauty
This chapter (along with Chapters 1 and 3) introduces the kōlam, a women’s ritual art tradition in Tamil Nadu, and outlines the author’s field research in India. The author found sacred marks not only on the thresholds of homes, businesses, and temples, but also on the foreheads of elephants and on pots and pans. The author relates what she learned from Indian women, a temple singer, a third-gender person, a Muslim student, elephant keepers, an a…
Feeding a Thousand Souls
Drawing on extensive fieldwork, this book investigates aesthetic, symbolic, metaphorical, literary, mathematical, and philosophical meanings of the kōlam, the popular Tamil women’s daily ephemeral practice, a ritual art tradition performed with rice flour on the thresholds of houses in southern India. They range from concepts such as auspiciousness, inauspiciousness, ritual purity, and ritual pollution. Several divinities, too, play a significant…
On the Multiple Languages of the Commons
The commons are social, cultural, semi-legal contracts a people make with their local natural systems that have embedded within them codes of moral and ethical orientations. This paper argues that there exists a lacuna in the current theoretical understandings of the commons in terms of languages, cultures and religions. This lacuna, the author argues, may radically affect the potentiality for negotiations around climate change. Through a set of …
Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations and Russian Environmental Governance
This article examines the role of environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) in Russia and the impact of tightening governmental accountability measures. Drawing on 18 interviews conducted in 2012-13 with Russian and international ENGOs, the article examines three key governance issues, namely: the collaborative relationship between the state and ENGOs, the impact of accountability measures on ENGO activities, and the relationships betw…
My Brother's Keeper
This article analyses the continued denial of equality to women in India's religious personal laws by focusing on the rights of brothers and sisters to illustrate the repeated failures of law. Although this failure has been normalised by deploying various conceptual tools, these theoretical trends need to be challenged. This article examines the 2005 amendment to the Hindu Succession Act which, although giving women extensive property rights, sti…
Empowering Women through Recognition of Rights to Land
Although the pluralist system of land tenure in Vanuatu does not directly discriminate against women, the operation of the system and contemporary interpretations of custom are increasingly marginalizing women from decision-making processes regarding land management and control. Commitment to the principles of gender equality through constitutional guarantees and the ratification of relevant international treaty obligations, while providing an ap…
Space and Law, Gender and Land
Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations and Russian Environmental Governance
This article examines the role of environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) in Russia and the impact of tightening governmental accountability measures. Drawing on 18 interviews conducted in 2012-13 with Russian and international ENGOs, the article examines three key governance issues, namely: the collaborative relationship between the state and ENGOs, the impact of accountability measures on ENGO activities, and the relationships betw…
On the Multiple Languages of the Commons
The commons are social, cultural, semi-legal contracts a people make with their local natural systems that have embedded within them codes of moral and ethical orientations. This paper argues that there exists a lacuna in the current theoretical understandings of the commons in terms of languages, cultures and religions. This lacuna, the author argues, may radically affect the potentiality for negotiations around climate change. Through a set of …
Space and Law, Gender and Land
My Brother's Keeper
This article analyses the continued denial of equality to women in India's religious personal laws by focusing on the rights of brothers and sisters to illustrate the repeated failures of law. Although this failure has been normalised by deploying various conceptual tools, these theoretical trends need to be challenged. This article examines the 2005 amendment to the Hindu Succession Act which, although giving women extensive property rights, sti…
Empowering Women through Recognition of Rights to Land
Although the pluralist system of land tenure in Vanuatu does not directly discriminate against women, the operation of the system and contemporary interpretations of custom are increasingly marginalizing women from decision-making processes regarding land management and control. Commitment to the principles of gender equality through constitutional guarantees and the ratification of relevant international treaty obligations, while providing an ap…
Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations and Russian Environmental Governance
This article examines the role of environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) in Russia and the impact of tightening governmental accountability measures. Drawing on 18 interviews conducted in 2012-13 with Russian and international ENGOs, the article examines three key governance issues, namely: the collaborative relationship between the state and ENGOs, the impact of accountability measures on ENGO activities, and the relationships betw…
On the Multiple Languages of the Commons
The commons are social, cultural, semi-legal contracts a people make with their local natural systems that have embedded within them codes of moral and ethical orientations. This paper argues that there exists a lacuna in the current theoretical understandings of the commons in terms of languages, cultures and religions. This lacuna, the author argues, may radically affect the potentiality for negotiations around climate change. Through a set of …
Marrying Trees and Global Warming
This chapter expands the earlier discussion of embedded ecologies and argues that the daily ritual act of the kōlam is a symbol of generosity and hospitality and an act of reciprocity between the natural and cultural worlds. The auspiciousness of the kōlam is analyzed in relation to the auspiciousness of certain plants and trees, especially coconuts, bananas, mangoes, and figs. The ritual act of tree marriage is explained. Tree marriage is a remi…
Endings
This in-depth life work on the kōlam ends as it began, in the Tamil diaspora. From suburban Maryland at the beginning of the book, this work ends with a narrative about a kōlam competition in Fremont, California. In this concluding chapter, the author looks back on the lengthy process of researching and writing the book and how her understanding and appreciation for the kōlam and all it represents deepened with time and life experience. She refle…
Thresholds
This chapter draws connections between the kōlam on the threshold and the pottu (or bindi) on the forehead. These ritual marks indicate the presence or absence of auspiciousness (or mangalam ) and help prevent ritual pollution. The kōlam is an elaborate system of communication that provides clues to the powerful roles of female domesticity and householders living the moral and “good life.” Bringing together Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, good lu…
Rituals
This chapter discusses the multiple meanings attributed to the kōlam, a women’s ritual art in Tamil Nadu, India. Marking the transition of the private world to the wider public sphere, the author suggests that the kōlam is a sign of the woman householder’s health and therefore the health of her household. It serves as a form of ritual play, a sacred space, and an invitation to the goddess. The kōlam helps to ward off the evil eye, is a way to com…
Āṇṭāḷ
Combining personal narrative, analytic insight, and poetics, in this chapter the author explores the parallels between the popular ninth century Tamil saint Āṇṭāḷ and the ritual of the kōlam in Tamil Nadu. The links between Āṇṭāḷ, her devotion to Vishnu, and the kōlam present a fragmented landscape of oral and written narrative, folk wisdom, and ideology. The author finds four similar themes between the story of Āṇṭāḷ and the ritual of making the…
Following Lines of Beauty
This chapter (along with Chapters 1 and 3) introduces the kōlam, a women’s ritual art tradition in Tamil Nadu, and outlines the author’s field research in India. The author found sacred marks not only on the thresholds of homes, businesses, and temples, but also on the foreheads of elephants and on pots and pans. The author relates what she learned from Indian women, a temple singer, a third-gender person, a Muslim student, elephant keepers, an a…
Feeding a Thousand Souls
Drawing on extensive fieldwork, this book investigates aesthetic, symbolic, metaphorical, literary, mathematical, and philosophical meanings of the kōlam, the popular Tamil women’s daily ephemeral practice, a ritual art tradition performed with rice flour on the thresholds of houses in southern India. They range from concepts such as auspiciousness, inauspiciousness, ritual purity, and ritual pollution. Several divinities, too, play a significant…
The influence of corporate market power on health
We argue that the SCP model is well-placed to broaden public health research into the ways in which corporations influence health. In addition, the development of a comprehensive framework based on the key findings of this paper could help the public health community to better engage with a set of policy and regulatory tools that have the potential to curb the concentration of corporate power for the betterment of population health
Market strategies used by processed food manufacturers to increase and consolidate their power
Narratives of the Body and Shame
Narratives of the Body and ShameDegrees of Invisibility/Visibility in Public Spaces Vijaya Nagarajan1 (bio) It is the first day of classes, spring semester, in January 2022. I am on my way to work at my university.2 I am standing at an East Bay BART station, a part of the public transportation train system in the San Francisco Bay Area. This particular day, I notice, to my surprise, that my experience in these normative public spaces is entirely …
Sociology (11 works) · Political science (8 works) · Anthropological Studies and Insights (7 works) · Art (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Literature (7 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · Tamil (7 works) · Aesthetics (6 works) · History (6 works)