The spirit of things taken, invented and built in the history of the Hindu family reproduction in Southern Africa

• Grant number: 13/04193-8
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: June 01, 2013 - May 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology - Theory of Anthropology
• Principal Investigator: Marta Denise da Rosa Jardim
• Grantee: Marta Denise da Rosa Jardim
• Host Institution: Escola de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (EFLCH). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Guarulhos. Guarulhos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research studies the things taken, constructed, invented in the history of reproduction Hindu family in the process of constitution of Southern Africa . The study of the social life of things - as fabrics (saris) and buildings (temples, houses, shops) - discusses the conceptual polarity that people opposed to individualized things commodified. Accordingly, examines the contradictory nature of life the thing Shree Ram Hindu temple in the town of Salamanga a hundred kilometers from the Mozambican capital of Maputo. The social history of this building will be investigated, from ongoing studies and based on field work in Salamanga, Inhambane, Maputo and Durban. On this trip, two months, we intend to observe the practices that affirm this-thing-building as a Hindu temple, through its relationship mixed with non Hindus in Southern Africa.It starts with hypotheses developed in previous research (Garden, 2006, 2007, 2012) related to the construction of the Temple in 1908, with the displacement of Hindu traders who sold the miners capulanas Tsongas to buy saris, as well, with the process whitening of the city of Lourenço Marques (now Maputo) when it tried to occupy the position of gateway to the dynamics surrounding the discovery of diamonds (1866) and gold (1886) in eastern South Africa. It is important here to investigate how the thing-temple-building, such as found in the Centennial in 2008 and still located in Salamanga - where there reside more than ten Hindus mixed - guard and invents the story of men and women with whom he relates .Aiming to understand aspects of the construction, maintenance, expansion, renovation, destruction and reconstruction of the building of the Temple Sri Ram intend to resume field work in Mozambique and South Africa to: a) observe the everyday thing-building the temple through monitoring routines you Tulcidás and in particular his role as conductor of music for children Tsongas gujarati locality of Salamanga b) inventory the building (architectural form, images (murtis), slabs of marble, objects (furniture, appliances) ) to identify and contact the families who sponsored such improvements (usually identified in the objects themselves) and who live in the cities of Inhambane, Maputo and Durban c) investigate private documentation (photos, letters, images, objects, material disclosure rituals) ; public institutions Salamanga (Railways, Army, Missions, Cement, Rice peeler); public institutions in Maputo (Mozambique Historical Archives) and public institutions of Durban (Killie Campbell Library). (AU)