Popular conceptions of Hindu Indian womanhood suggest that these women are best
conceptualized within a network of social roles. These conceptions, for the large
part, are based on ideological descriptions or normative patterns, depict Indian
women as a homogeneous group, and are relatively static. Conceptualized within the
framework of existential philosophy, in this article we explore an urban
middle-class Hindu woman’s conceptions of herself and the notion of
change. Using the metaphor of a tree, she describes her existence in terms of two
main components: one that represents the core and the other that constitutes the
periphery. She perceives family roles at the periphery, while considering her soul
as the center of her existence, which organizes various roles into an integrated
whole. Both individuality and connectivity are integrated in her depiction of Hindu
Indian womanhood with their relative emphasis changing over the life-course. This
narrative, along with our analysis and broader discussion of problems with research
on personhood, suggests the need to expand the theoretical and methodological focus
to obtain a more complete understanding of personhood in collectivist cultures.
Allport, G.W.
(1961). Patterns and growth in personality.New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston
.
2.
Binswagner, L.
(1956). Existential analysis and psychotherapy.
In
F. Fromm-Reichmann
&
J.L. Moreno
(Eds.), Progress in psychotherapy (pp.
144–148).
New York: Grune & Stratton
.
3.
Cooley, C.H.
(1902). Human nature and the social order.
New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons
.
4.
Crapanzano, V.
(1980). Tuhami: Portrait of a Moroccan.
Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press
.
5.
de Munk, V.
(2000). Culture, self, and meaning.
Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland
.
6.
Desai, N.
, &
Krishnaraj, M.
(1987). Women and society in India.
Delhi: Ajanta
.
7.
Dhruvarajan, V.
(1990).
Religious ideology, Hindu women, and development in India
. Journal of Social Issues, 46,
57–69
.
8.
Dumont, L.
(1970). Homo hierarchicus: The caste system and its
implications.
Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press
.
9.
Fortes, M.
(1973). On the concept of the person among the
Tallensi. In
G. Dieterlen
(Ed.), La notion de personne en Afrique Noire (pp.
283–319).
Paris: Éditions de Centre National
de la Recherche Scientifique
.
10.
Frankl, V.E.
(1959). Man’s search for meaning: An introduction
to logotherapy (I. Lasch, Trans.).
Boston, MA: Beacon
.
11.
Frankl, V.E.
(1967). Psychotherapy and existentialism: Selected papers on
logotherapy.
New York: Simon & Schuster
.
12.
Geertz, C.
(1983). ‘From the Native’s point of
view’: On the nature of anthropological understanding. In
Local knowledge: Further essays in interpretive anthropology (pp.
55–70).
New York: Basic Books
.
13.
Greenfield, P.M.
(1997). Culture as process: Empirical methods for cultural
psychology. In
J.W. Berry
,
Y.H. Poortinga
, &
J. Pandey
(Eds.), Handbook of cross-cultural psychology: Vol. 1. Theory and
method (2nd ed., pp. 302–345).
Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon
.
14.
Guzder, J.
, &
Krishna, M.
(1991).
Sita-Shakti: Cultural paradigms for Indian women
. Transcultural Psychiatric Research Review, 28,
257–301
.
15.
Harter, S.
(1999). The construction of the self: A developmental
perspective.
New York: Guilford
.
16.
Heidegger, M.
(1949). Existence and being.
Chicago, IL: Henry Regnery
.
17.
Herzfeld, M.
(1997). Portrait of a Greek imagination: An ethnographic
biography of Andreas Nenedakis.
Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press
.
18.
Hofstede, G.
(1980). Culture’s consequences: International
differences in work-related values.
Beverley Hills, CA: Sage
.
19.
Jackson, M.
, &
Karp, I.
(1990a). Introduction. In
M. Jackson
&
I. Karp
(Eds.), Personhood and agency: The experience of self and other in
African cultures (pp. 15–30).
Washington, DC: Smithsonian Press
.
20.
Jackson, M.
, &
Karp, I.
(1990b). Personhood and agency: The experience of self and
other in African cultures.
Washington, DC: Smithsonian Press
.
21.
Jahoda, G.
(1992). Foreword. In
J.W. Berry
,
Y.H. Poortinga
,
M.H. Segall
, &
P.R. Dasen
(Eds.), Cross-cultural psychology: Research and applications (pp.
x–xii).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
.
22.
James, W.
(1890). The principles of psychology. Vol 1.
New York: Holt
.
23.
Jayawardena, K.
(1986). Feminism and nationalism in the third world.
London: Zed
.
24.
Kagitcibasi, C.
(1996).
The autonomous-relational self: Anew synthesis
. European Psychologist, 1(3),
180–186
.
25.
Kakar, S.
(1978). The inner world.
New Delhi: Oxford University Press
.
26.
Kakar, S.
(1996). The construction of new Hindu identity.
In
K. Basu
&
S. Subramanyam
(Eds.), Unraveling the nation: Sectarian conflict and India’s
secular identity (pp. 204–236).
New Delhi: Penguin
.
27.
Knott, K.
(1996).
Hindu women, destiny and stridharma
. Religion, 26,
15–35
.
28.
Lakoff, G.
, &
Johnson, M.
(1999). Philosophy in the flesh: The embodied mind and its
challenges to the western thought.
New York: Basic Books
.
29.
Lamb, S.
(1997).
The making and unmaking of persons: Notes on aging and gender in north India
. Ethos, 25(3),
279–302
.
30.
Lamb, S.
(2000). White saris and sweet mangoes: Aging, gender, and
body in North India.
Berkley/Los Angeles: University of California Press
.
31.
Markus, H.R.
, &
Kitayama, S.
(1991).
Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation
. Psychological Review, 98,
224–253
.
32.
Marriott, M.
(1976). Hindu transactions: Diversity without
dualism. In
B. Kapferer
(Ed.), Transaction and meaning: Directions in the anthropology of
exchange and symbolic behavior (pp.
109–142).
Philadelphia, PA: Ishi
.
33.
Marriot, M.
(1998).
The female family core explored ethnosociologically
. Contributions to Indian Sociology, 32,
279–304
.
34.
Marsella, A.
(1985). Culture, self, and mental disorder. In
A. Marsella
,
G. DeVos
, &
F. Hsu
(Eds.), Culture and self: Asian and western perspectives (pp.
281–308).
New York: Tavistock
.
35.
Martinez, T.J., III
(1998).
Anthropos and existence: Gnostic parallels in the early writings of Rollo May
. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 38,
95–109
.
36.
Maslow, A.H.
(1961). Existential psychology—What’s
in it for us? In
R. May
(Eds.), Existential psychology (pp.
52–60).
New York: Random House
.
37.
Mauss, M.
(1939).
Une categorie de l’espirit humaine: La notion de la personne,
celle de moi
. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute,
68,
263–282
.
38.
May, R.
(1960). The emergence and significance of existential
movement in psychology. In
R. May
,
E. Angel
, &
H. Ellenberger
(Eds.), Existence: A new dimension in psychiatry and psychology.
New York: Basic Books
.
39.
May, R.
(1961). The emergence of existential psychology.
In
R. May
(Ed.), Existential psychology (pp.
11–51).
New York: Random House
.
40.
May, R.
(1983). The discovery of being: Writings in existential
psychology.
New York: Norton
.
41.
Mazmudar, V.
(1976). The social reform movement in India—From
Ranade to Nehru. In
B.R. Nanda
(Ed.), Indian women.
New Delhi: Vikas
.
42.
McHugh, E.L.
(1989).
Concepts of the person among the Gurungs of Nepal
. American Ethnologist, 16,
75–86
.
43.
Mead, G.H.
(1925).
The genesis of the self and social control
. International Journal of Ethics, 35,
251–273
.
44.
Mead, G.H.
(1934). Mind self, and society from the standpoint of a
social behaviorist.
Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press
.
45.
Miller, P.
(1997). Theoretical issues in cultural
psychology. In
J.W. Berry
,
Y.H. Poortinga
, &
J. Pandey
(Eds.), Handbook of cross-cultural psychology: Vol. 1. Theory and
method (2nd ed., pp. 85–128).
Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon
.
46.
Mines, M.
(1988).
Conceptualizing the person: Hierarchical society and individual autonomy in India
. American Anthropologist, 90,
568–579
.
47.
Mines, M.
(1994). Public faces, private voices: Community and
individuality in South India.
Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California Press
.
48.
Much, N.
(1995). Cultural psychology. In
J.A. Smith
,
R. HarrÈ
, &
L. Van Langenhove
(Eds.), Rethinking psychology (pp.
97–121).
London: Sage
.
49.
Obeyesekere, G.
(1981). Medusa’s hair: An essay on personal symbols
and religious experience.
Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press
.
50.
Office of the Registrar General, New Delhi, India (1991). India at a glance:
Statistics on demographic & socio-economic characteristics. Retrieved May
19, 2003 from http://www.censusindia.net/
51.
Oishi, S.
(2000). Goals as cornerstones of subjective well-being:
Linking individuals and cultures. In
E. Deiner
&
E.M. Suh
(Eds.), Culture and subjective well-being (pp.
87–112).
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
.
52.
Pandit, B.
(2001). The Hindu mind.
New Delhi: New Age Books
.
53.
Parish, S.M.
(1994). Moral knowing in a Hindu sacred city: An exploration
of mind, emotion, and self.
New York: Columbia University Press
.
54.
Ramanujam, B.K.
(1979). Toward maturity: Problems of identity seen in the
Indian clinical setting. In
S. Kakar
(Ed.), Identity and adulthood (pp.
37–55).
Delhi: Oxford University Press
.
55.
Reddy, I.
, &
Hanna, F.J.
(1998).
The lifestyle of the Hindu woman: Conceptualizing female clients of Indian origin
. Journal of Individual Psychology, 54,
385–398
.
56.
Riesman, P.
(1986).
The person and the life cycle in African social life and thought
. African Studies Review, 29,
71–198
.
57.
Rogers, C.R.
(1961). On becoming a person.
Oxford: Houghton Mifflin
.
58.
Roland, A.
(1988). In search of self in India and Japan: Toward a
cross-cultural psychology.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press
.
59.
Seshadri, C.
(1983). The philosophical traditions of India I &
II. In
P.R. Nayar
,
P.N. Dave
, &
K. Arora
(Eds.), The teacher and education in emerging Indian society (pp.
3–20).
New Delhi: National Council of Educational
Research and Training
.
60.
Sharma, A.
(1998, Spring). Hindu spirituality. Cross
Currents, pp. 83–88.
Shweder, R.A.
, &
Bourne, E.J.
(1984). Does the concept of the person vary cross
culturally? In
R.A. Shweder
&
R.A. Levine
(Eds.), Cultural theory (pp.
158–199).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
.
63.
Smith, J.A.
(1995). Semi-structured interviewing and qualitative
analysis. In
J.A. Smith
,
R. Harré
, &
L. Langenhove
(Eds.), Rethinking methods in psychology (pp.
9–26).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
.
64.
Smythe, W.E.
(1998). Introduction. In
W.E. Smythe
(Ed.), Towards a psychology of persons (pp.
xi–xxii).
Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum
.
65.
Sughand, J.
(Producer), &
Manjarekar, M.
(Director). (2000). Astitva [Motion picture].
Bombay, India: Friends India &
Sathyaswami Entertainment (P) Ltd
.
66.
Suh, E.M.
(2000). Self, the hyphen between culture and subjective
well-being. In
E. Deiner
&
E.M. Suh
(Eds.), Culture and subjective well-being (pp.
63–86).
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
.
67.
Tomm, W.
(1995). Areligious philosophy of self. In
M. Joy
&
E.K. Neumaier-Dargyay
(Eds.), Gender, genre, and religion: Feminist reflections (pp.
239–255).
Waterloo, ON: Wilfred Laurier University Press
.
68.
Triandis, H.C.
(1988). Collectivism vs. individualism:
Areconceptualization of a basic concept in cross-cultural social
psychology. In
G.K. Verma
&
C. Bagley
(Eds.), Cross-cultural studies of personality, attitudes, and
cognition (pp. 60–95).
London: Macmillan
.
69.
Triandis, H.C.
(1989).
The self and social behavior in differing cultural contexts
. Psychological Review, 98,
506–520
.
70.
Triandis, H.C.
(1995). Individualism and collectivism.
Boulder, CO: Westview
.
71.
Viswanathan, E.
(1992). Am I a Hindu?: The Hinduism primer.
San Francisco, CA: Halo
.
72.
Vohra, R.
(1997). The making of India: A historical survey.
New York: Random House
.
73.
Weightman, S.
(1997). Hinduism. In.
J.R. Hinnells
(Ed.), A new handbook of living religions (pp.
261–310).
Oxford: Blackwell
.
74.
Young, K.K.
(1995). Upholding norms of Hindu womanhood: An analysis
based on reviews of Hindi cinema. In
M. Joy
&
E.K. Neumaier-Dargyay
(Eds.), Gender, genre, and religion: Feminist reflections (pp.
171–198).
Waterloo, ON: Wilfred Laurier University Press
.
