[Anthropgrad] Wednesday seminar for August 8

[Alan Rumsey]

Chris Gregory: ‘Skinship: On the Pragmatics of the Familial Kiss in 
Middle India’

Anthropology Seminar Series: 9.30-11.30 am, Wednesday 8 August, Coombs 
Seminar Room A


Abstract:


Improper public displays of affection excite strong emotion in India as 
the recent case of Richard Gere’s kiss on Shilpa Shetty at an AIDS 
awareness rally in New Delhi demonstrates. Touchability is just as 
important as untouchability in India but it is everywhere informed by 
regional differences in codes of familial respect and love. In this 
paper I present ethnographic data on the familial hand-to-chin kiss 
/(thori cumto)/ used in face-to-face relations between people in Bastar 
District, Middle India and explore the implications of this case for a 
comparative understanding of the role of woman as sister, wife and 
grandmother more generally.