Page 235 - Communication Processes Volume 3 Communication Culture and Confrontation

210 Hema Rairkar

local meetings. In study group sessions they were shown how to carry
a content analysis of some sections of the corpus with the following
questions as guidelines:

1. Which words use to carry which ideas?
2. What social realities and values stand behind them?
3. How and to what extent did women internalize that tradition?
4. What impact did those words have on them?
5. How did they structure the collective psyche of common
women?
A few examples will give a hint of this type of content analysis and
of its potential for activities of cultural action. First, here is a short ex-
4
cerpt of a study of songs classified under the title Woman Unwanted
at Birth. The question raised was: which basic words are used for a
woman? What meaning do they convey?

-
l Log of wood, lakud: Destined to be burnt in the hearth; in other
words, sacrifice one’s life through dedication to one’s domestic
duties.
- -
l Trade, vyapar: Meant to be sold; handed over in marriage to the
in-law’s family.
l Body, pinda: The person with its particular nature and
.
attributes.
-
l Palanquin, palkhī: To depart from this world.
l Cremation ground: Death.
-
l Difficulty, sakad: Hardship.
.
l Box of jewels, rathnapetī: Particular appreciation or affection
for a girl.
But for one exception, all the words are negative and, moreover,
express feelings of despair. The word ‘destiny’ is used as synonym for
misfortune. The analysis goes on articulating the semantic connota-
tions of the words used in the category under consideration. Four
kinds are distinguished: (a) one can but helplessly accept the birth of a
girl; (b) total negativity and rejection; (c) nothing is in our hands; and
(d) acceptance with joy (only one such song).
Similar questions are raised about the set A:II-2.1 relating to a
pubescent daughter and the parents’ consequent anxiety. Derogatory
words are associated with a pubescent girl: