Medical Anthropology Forum Casted Lives: Biographic and Ethnographic Perspectives

It has often been said that in many parts of South Asia, belonging to a religious and caste group is understood as something given, inescapable and a moral necessity. Prof. Quack's current book project seeks to explore how and why this vague but palpable sense of belonging is maintained and transformed in contemporary India. To do so, it combines biographic and ethnographic perspectives on the lives of two individuals: Shriram Gehlot (born into a poor Chuhra/Dalit family in western UP) and Ambika Goswami (born into a rich Brahmin family in northeastern India). This paper focuses on the problem of a “split personality”, not from a psychological but from an anthropological (sociological and philosophical) perspective. It analyses how Shriram’s and Ambika’s gradual alienation from their family and community went hand in hand with their attempts to live in agreement with themselves.