Honour and Honour Groups in Pre-Modern India in the 12th-14th and 16th-18th Centuries: An Indological Study of Honour and Emotions Based on Tamil Texts

• Applicant: Dr. Barbara Schuler
• Subject Area: Asian Studies
• Term: from 2016 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 289060917

The central concept of this project lies in the working hypothesis that the models of honour of two social groups (jatis)--the Velala and the Maravar-Kallar--in which honour plays a particularly important role are fundamentally different. The research will focus on the Tamil-speaking region of India, with a temporal framework of the 12th-14th and 16th-18th centuries.If one considers honour as a form of communication and an element of human culture, it is always tied to specific times and contexts and is thus subject to change. One of the main tasks of the project is therefore to investigate the following questions: What models of honour were held in different historical periods by the groups in question? To which issues and emotion clusters were these models linked? And, what roles did rank or gender play? In this way, the project introduces a new direction for future research on honour in pre-modern India. The merit of the project lies thus not in a contribution to the definition of honour, but in its novel attempt, based on fiction and non-fiction texts of different genres and forms, to identify--from synchronic and diachronic perspectives--differences, continuities, and/or changes in the semantics of honour and honour-induced emotions in two social groups. An investigation of this type reveals points in time when social and cultural patterns changed, and so provides substantial new input to our current understanding of pre-modern India.The work plan involves three phases: 1. The first step will be to ascertain how honour situations are depicted in the selected texts. The situational components will be contextually analysed with regard to emotion clusters and communication processes. 2. The second step will involve a comparative analysis, over the defined time span, of the two social groups' practices regarding honour. In order to identify the main differences, the textual material will be examined for typical patterns of honour concepts, emotional accentuation, and practices. 3. Finally, the constants and semantic shifts in the honour models will be studied, along with their respective social and cultural-historical contextualisation, with the goal of discovering socio-cultural and group-specific conditions for changes in the models. This textual research will present the first comprehensive overview of honour models and their interaction with historical, social, and cultural factors in the South Indian Tamil context. By holding up a historical mirror to contemporary investigations, the research results will also lay a foundation for and contribute to our basic understanding of honour conceptions and conflicts in India today. In addition, the findings will contribute to the non-European history of honour and emotion, and will prove valuable for both comparative studies and theoretical discussions on emotional communities.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants