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© Kamla-Raj 2003 Stud. Tribes Tribals, 1 (1): 69-72 (2003)
Aspects of Leisure Among the Tribes
Kumkum Bhattacharya
Department of Social Work, Visva Bharti, P. O. Sriniketan 731 236, Dist. Birbhum, West Bengal, India
Key Words Leisure and idleness; Santals; Jarawas; social organization and meanings of leisure.
Abstract Perception of liesure differs from people to people, as does the concept. Connotations of leisure too differ from culture to culture. Somewhere, it is a symobl of laziness; somewhere it may be an opportunity for entertainment and somewhere it may be considered that it needs to be organized and time-slotted. In many cases, leisure is much sought after breaks in the busy schedule of life. In India, there had been a tradition of textualizing the ways of enjoying and making good use of leisure. This paper is in reference to the Santals with a passing reference to the Jarawas (Andaman and Nicobar Islands), a widely distributed tribe of eastern India. To answer the question why this particular tribe has been selected in order to discuss leisure - these people are known to possess raska, a sense of fun or joy of life. These people are also members of societies practising subsistence economies, usually not considered in discussions on leisure as leisure has largely been seen as a product of industrilization. It is true that institutionalized pasttime activities are in most studies synonymous with leisure, on which count these people could be left out, but this kind of understanding is stymied and makes us ignore the celebratory ways in which they perceive life and living. I would like to demonstrate that tradition; social organization and way of life of the Santals impart qualitative meaning to leisure hitherto not delieanated in research.
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