Peasant Culture Part1 Course name Peasant SocietySOC 405

Peasant Culture Part-1 Course name: Peasant Society-SOC 405 Dr. Kazi Abdur Rouf Department of Sociology Chittagong University

Topics to be Covered • • • Peasant and Peasant Society Definitions Culture Transmission Types of Culture Folk culture Peasant Subsistence Production Culture Peasant subsistence economy Bangladeshi famers Cash Crop Jute Cultivation Culture Intensive Subsistence Farming Tradition and Peasant Culture

Topics to be Covered • • Agricultural Technology and Parda Peasant Society Social Mobility Traditional Sayings (Khanar Bohan) and Idioms Adoptions of Traditional Culture Traditional Society Culture and Industrial Society Culture Preservation Moral Culture Traditional Healing Practices Traditional Society Community Feeling

Peasant Society • Peasant society has many cultures. It has different practical attitudes, view -points and perspective • A society should have deep relationship with its practical economic, political and technology perspective • Peasant culture is the combination of thinking, attitude, behavior, ideas of peasant society • Peasant society is different from industrial society • It varies from modernized people’s identity • However, both peasant society and industrialized society have intertransactions process with each other • This lecture is discussing about peasant cultures’ different aspects/features • Before discussing about peasant culture it is important to discuss the meaning of culture

Peasant • A peasant is a member of a traditional class of farmers, either laborers or owners of small farms • Especially in the middle age under feudalism, or • More generally, in any pre-industrial society • Peasants typically made up the majority of the agricultural labor force in a pre-industrial society The majority of the people in the Middle Ages were peasants. • Though "peasant" is a word of loose application, a market economy had taken root, • Peasant proprietors frequently used to describe the traditional rural cultivation population. Now "peasant" is sometimes used to referred and considered to be "lower class" • It is perhaps defined by poorer education and/or a lower income.

Definitions Culture • Culture is about the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively and individually • It is the combination of different ideas, customs, and social behavior of a particular people or society • Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, • Meanings, hierarchies, religion, roles, spatial relations, • Material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving • Culture is the systems of knowledge shared by a relatively large group of people • Culture is a way of life of a group of people--the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them, and that are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next.

Culture Transmission • Culture is acquired and transmitted by symbols • Constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts • Essential core of culture consists of traditional ideas and especially their attached values • Culture systems may be considered as products of action • Culture is the sum of total of the learned behavior of a group of people • They are generally considered to be the tradition of that people and are transmitted from generation to generation. • Culture is a collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another • Cultural elements are values, norms, practices, heritages, rituals and symbols.

Cultures at Different Levels • Culture exists at different levels • National level • Regional level associated with ethnic, linguistic, or religious differences that exist within a nation • Gender level is associated with gender differences (female vs. male) • Generation level is associated with the differences between grandparents and parents, parents and children • Social class level is associated with educational opportunities and differences in occupation and corporate level • High businessmen associated with economic power and authority.

Types of Culture • Culture is divided into material culture and non-material culture • However, both cultures have close relationship with each other • Technology design of building and construction of building are the material culture • Design and ideas are non-material culture • Peasant culture lecture covers non-material culture.

Folk culture • Folk culture refers to the unifying expressive components of everyday life as enacted by localized, tradition-bound groups • Folk culture focused primarily on traditions practiced by small, homogenous rural living groups • Today, however, folk culture is more inclusively recognized as a dynamic representation of both modern and rural constituents • Historically, handed down through oral tradition • Now increasingly it spreads through dynamic computer-mediated communication • It relates to the cultivation of community and group identity.

Folk culture continue-2 • Folk culture is quite often imbue (fill, instill) with a sense of place • If elements of a folk culture are copied by, or moved to, a foreign locale, they will still carry strong connotations of their original place of creation • Today peasant culture distorted from their original form • They have lost their original peasant crop festival culture and the sense of place • They are no longer part of folk culture.

Peasant Subsistence Production Culture • "Subsistence peasants are people who grow what they eat, build their own houses • "Subsistence" means supporting oneself at a minimum level; • The typical subsistence farm has a range of crops and animals needed by the family to feed and clothe themselves during the year • They live without regularly making purchases in the marketplace. " • However, despite the primacy of self-sufficiency in subsistence farming, today most subsistence farmers also participate in trade to some degree.

Peasant Subsistence Production Culture continue-2 • Subsistence farmers participate in trade to some degree for their necessary survivals-buying kerosene, salt, clothing, medicines and so forth • They have barter exchange culture instead using paper money for exchange goods • Subsistence farming continues today in large parts of rural Africa and parts of Asia and Latin America • Subsistence agriculture had largely disappeared in Europe • In Bangladesh it is declining.

Peasant Subsistence Economy • A subsistence economy is a non-monetary economy which relies on natural resources to provide for basic needs • Subsistence economy elements are hunting, gathering, and subsistence agricultural production. • Substance economy has a subsistence economy • Here economic surplus is minimal • It is only used to trade for basic goods, and there is no industrialization • However, Subsistence agriculture is self-sufficiency farming in which the farmers focus on growing enough food to feed themselves and their families. • Planting decisions are made principally with an eye toward what the family will need during the coming year, and secondarily toward market prices • Subsistence agriculture is sustainable at low population densities

Intensive Subsistence Farming • In very densely populated countries like India and China, farmers use their small land holdings to produce enough for their own consumption • While remaining produce is used for exchange against other goods. • The cultivators use simple tools to produce the crop. • It results in much more food being produced per acre compared to other subsistence patterns • These farmers try to obtain maximum yield from the available lands by intensifying cultivation techniques, including the preparation of paddyfields which can be used year after year • They may also intensify cultivation by using manure, artificial irrigation and animal waste as fertilizer.

Bangladeshi Famers Cash Crop Jute Cultivation Culture • A cash crop is an agriculture crop which is grown for sale to return a profit or sale in market for buying other necessary goods for his family • It is typically purchased by parties separate from a farm • The term cash crop is applied exclusively to the agricultural production of plants • In Bangladesh, Jute and Cotton cultivations are cash crops • The term cash crop is used to differentiate marketed crops from substance crops • Unfortunately Jute market has destroyed in Bangladesh because of Poly Vinyl alternative products • Jute processing industries declined/stopped to buy Jute from farmers • Even Jute industries stopped to jute processing activities • Maximum of them stopped their jute processing functions after independence of Bangladesh • Bangladesh farmers loss their international jute market.

Tradition and Peasant Culture • It is necessary to explain some concepts to analyze peasant culture • Tradition is most important concept among them • Traditional culture elements are rituals, norms, values, customs, beliefs and practices that are existing and passing to generations years after years • So tradition is unchanging and stagnant culture • Peasant culture is called traditional and stagnant too. • Peasant economy and politics are unchanging along their culture • However, there is a question how peasant unchanging traditional cultural pattern can sustain with the expansion of capitalistic relations of production in society • Changing traditions and dialectical process creates a new dimension of culture • It is the process of dynamics of culture.

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Peasant Culture Part-2 Course name: Peasant Society-SOC 405 Dr. Kazi Abdur Rouf Department of Sociology Chittagong University

Transmission of Traditional Culture continue-2 • Post-generation can receive agriculture tradition and culture in two ways from their previous generations • First generation tradition can be passed through verbal/oral traditions-it is called oral transmission • Secondly traditions can passes through printed media, literature and philosophy • In traditional culture, usually traditions are transmitting by oral tradition • However, printed information passing is less in traditional society • So passing information by oral means is the prime medium of traditional society • Different ballads, myths, folklore, folksongs, music, idioms, dialects and phrases etc. are passing to generations by oral transmission.

Agricultural Technology and Parda • Rural Bengal agricultural technology is transmitting to post generations by verbal, demonstration and non-printed medium • Usually traditional culture receives knowledge, values, customs from previous generations • Traditional culture appreciates colorful past • People usually follow previous traditional culture, norms, values and customs • Without barriers, traditional culture continues transmitting to next generations • However, when past tradition become unpopular or irrelevant to peasants, then it creates a certain situation where change is inevitable

Agricultural Technology and Parda contiue-2 • It is seen that the poor women come out for employment or for work outside home by breaking traditional Parda system in villages in Bangladesh • Parda system is related to economic need and • Economic ability (congruity) or economic inability • However, it is not correct that peasant culture always stagnant which is applicable only in primitive society • Low technology is the main reasons for sustaining traditional culture • Subsistence economy is related to lower technology

Agricultural Technology and Parda continue-3 • Cultural interaction is occurring in society by market relations with other society • Commercial relations of production and interactions create an opportunity for peasant to exchange their products or to adopt with other people culture, values and practices • However, it is not possible in a pure subsistence production society • Improved technology, new outlook/attitude/ view-point creates a new social relationship that weakens the traditions • Inferior technology weakens total economy • As well as weakens social mobility that favors to continue traditional culture.

Peasant Society Social Mobility • Culture and social mobility could be increased in the dynamic society • New view-point/outlook is necessary for a new leadership development and for emerging dynamic social mobility • However, if there is an opportunity for selecting a new leader or • Coming from different family at different times, and then the society could be a dynamic and changing society • Then culture and social mobility could be increased • New outlook and new viewpoint has relationship for emerging new cultural dynamic social mobility.

Traditional sayings (Khanar Bohan) and Idioms • Different idioms, phrase and folklores are enough to know peasant mentality and peasant culture • Here peasants’ socio-economic lifestyles, agriculture activities and traditions can be observed by analyzing peasant society and its different features • One Khana saying and idioms mentions, “Wisdom king thankful to society, if raining is at the end of the Bengali month Magh. ” • Usually Rabbi Crops are cultivating in Posh-Magh months • Water/irrigation is necessary for good growing of Rabbi crops • If no raining or irrigation is available for irrigating Rabi crops, the yield of the Rabbi crop is hampering • Peasant past ballad (Bengali word Puti), idioms, folklores, poems has reflection on peasant culture, values, norms, ballad, and tradition.

Adoptions of Traditional Culture • • • Many tradition/values abolished Acceptance of culture depends on peasant necessity /need Functional need transmit from one generation to another generation Some traditional cultures and their traditional features prevail only because behavior exist through cultural traditions Rural folklore lyrics (Bengali word Vatially) are popular in cities too Many people say folklores have universal demand popularity However, it is not correct all traditions and cultures are accepted by post generations without unchanged For example, peasant accept new technology if it is coming from peasant agriculture Peasant accepts new values and new view-points if it is beneficial to them.

Traditional Society Culture and Industrial Society Culture Preservation • Traditional Society has unwritten Culture and industrial society documented culture by printing • Cultural innovators or cultural builders of traditional peasants abolish or lost their culture • Traditional idioms, folklores, poems and ballads are not written or documented • Many rural essays, poems, idioms, ballads, phrases which are not recorded • However, it is seen that many cultural innovators, cultural constructionist names are recorded in papers and books • However, That are absent in the traditional society as a whole

Traditional Society Culture and Industrial Society Culture Preservationcontinue-2 • Reason is absence of print media in traditional society • Hence many poems, songs, music composes names cannot be seen • However, industrial society preserves its poems, songs, folklores cultures and literatures • However, such kind of initiative is absent in traditional peasant society.

Moral Culture • It is consider a good moral to hold previous generation tradition • It is like performing a responsibility and respect to previous decedent’s • People express their thanks to pre-decedents by accepting and practicing their culture and traditions • Morality is closely attached with this relationship • It is less discrete/blame to people who lawfully failed to perform less moral duty • A person shows his utmost respect and obedient to descendent where individual rights is not specified and clear • Deep respect and obedience is one of the features of traditional society • This process facilitates traditional society authoritative control • Usually it is compulsory for post-generation to follow traditional culture of the previous generation customs.

Moral Culture continue-2 • Side by side a citizen right is clear, specifies based on interactions in industrial society • Thankfulness is secondary in industrial society • However, it is moral responsibility to thank people when the rights is assigned • Peasant society has respectful for traditions • Different rituals, festivals, events are the strong functions of traditions • Individual handouts, donations are important in traditional society • Seniors and adult people play a strong role to retain traditional culture • Seniors play a strong role to practice religion, clothing, attitudes and behaviors.

Traditional Healing Practices • In traditional society, people beliefs in Ghost evil spirit, supernatural being devil spirit and witchcrafts healing • Rural people belief child mortality or died of pregnant women is responsible for unseen power • These belief influence peoples’ traditional healing practices by traditional witchcrafts healers • Physical illness explains in terms of bad influence of unseen power • Traditional witchcrafts healers using magic for exorcise (healing) evil or cure an illness by uttering charms and incantations affected by bad evils.

Traditional Healing Practices contiue-2 • Traditional hillers are concentrated to some families or clans • Other people of the village have a blind belief on them and use them for their healings using traditional healers • Traditional healers do not share their traditional healing knowledge and skills with other family people • Rural people belief in impersonal entity witchcrafts, enchant, bewitch, sorcery, jugglery, ghost evil spirit, supernatural being devil spirit • For example, Peasants put drawing art earth pot in their crop fields for protecting their crops • It is a belief and practice among traditional peasants.

Traditional Society Community Feeling • Community cultural feeling is important in the traditional society • Community people shares ballads, folklore music, poems, dances in traditional peasant society • As print media is absent, the transmission of culture from individual level to community level is important • Otherwise tradition will be weak • Hence chat or storytelling is important in villages • Group chat and storytelling is an important feature in exchanging of rural ideas.

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