26 Apr 2009

A Virtual Village [in the State of Bihar, India]
Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, US
Supplied note:
"Mathew Schmalz (College of the Holy Cross [mschmalz--at--holycross.edu]) and I designed [...'A Virtual Village',] a free pedagogical tool [...] that allows students to interactively explore the social worlds of a north Indian village through its material culture. This free, online website provides a variety of background materials regarding the pseudonymic 'Arampur,' including updates on changes to its physical conditions. But the central feature allows students to virtually 'roam' within this village in the state of Bihar through a series of interconnected images. Hotspots on the scenes allow the user to enter buildings, closely examine objects, and 'interview' residents with a list of prescribed questions.
As they roam, students can observe how the many communities in Arampur express their identities through the images, buildings, apparel, and household objects found in streets, homes, stores, and places of worship. Moreover, users can also witness through the interviews how individuals may belong simultaneously not to one but to many communities. These experiences help destabilize the prevailing bifurcation of 'Hindu' and 'Muslim.' -pg."
Site contents:
* About Arampur (Introduction, The village nexus, The natural environment , Within Bihar, Banaras connections Within India, Globalization);
* Roam [an interactive map + images of the village];
* Topics in Village Live (Village Life, Society, Agriculture, Economics, Religion, Gender, Languages, Arts, Architecture, Education);
* Thematic Maps (Medical practitioners, Perceptions of Change, Shops, Services, Interviews, Food, Hindu Temples, Hindu Shrines, Muslim mosques, Sufi Tombs, Domestic Spaces);
* My Life (Introduction, Documentary photographs taken by 5 Arampur residents: Bhadra Jaswar, Sayyid Firdaus, Lakshmi Devi, Shiv Mistri, Indra Jaswar, Mathews bhai); * Interviews [annotated transcripts of 34 interviews with Arampur residents]; * History [of this Indian village];
* Glossary (Agrawal, Allah, Allopathy, Ansari, Arati, Ashura, Ayurveda, Azadi, Baba, Backward Caste, Banaras, Baqr Id, Betel leaf, Betel nut, Bhakhtiyar Khilji, Bhang, Bhojpuri, Bhut, Bidis/biris, Bihar, BJP, Block, Bombay, Brahm, Brahmin, Burqa, Calcutta, Caste, Chadar, Chamar, Chamtol, Chaudari, Chaurasiya, Chistis, Chuna, Dai Ganj, Daiganj, Dalits, Dargah, Darshan, Dham, Dharm/dharma, Dhoti, Divali, Diwali, Doordarshan, Dua, Durga, Faqir, Fatiha, Friday Mosque, Ganesh, Ghost, Gita, Gulab Jamun, Hanuman, Havan, Hindi, Hindi films, Hindu, Hinduism, Hizri/hijri, Homeopathy, Husayn, Id, Id ul-Fitr, Idgah, Ilachi, Islam, Jama Masjid, Jati, Ji, Kali, Karbala, Kasba, Katha, Khan, Khir, Krishna, Kumar, Kurta, Laddu, Lakshman, Lakshmi, Ling, Linga, Lingam, Lungi, Madarsa, Mahabharat, Mala, Mandir, Masjid, Mazaar, Mosque, Mughuls, Muhalla, Muhammad, Muharram, Murti, Murtikar, Muslim, Namaz, Naxalite, Occultation, Ojha, Paan, Pandit, Pardah, Parikrama, Parvati, Pathan, Pinda/Pindi, pir, Prashad, Pret, Puja, Pujari, Purohit, Qasbah, Quran, Raja Vicitra, Rajput, Ram, Ramayan, Ramzan, Ranvir Sena, Rickshaw, RSS, Rupee, Sandals, Sari, Scheduled Caste, Shahid, Shankar, Sharia, Shastri Brahm, Shia, Shiv, Shiva, Sita, Sufi, Swastika, Syed, Tawaf, Taziya, Temple, Tola, Trishul, Urdu, Vali (wali), Vicitra, Vishnu, Yadav, Yantra, Yoni, 786) [and links between these terms and the relevant sections of the transcribed interviews];
* Updates [photographs of and notes on new developments in the village since 2004 - ed.] ; * Resources/Bibliography; * Teaching Materials; * Methodology; * Credits/contacts; * Technical requirements [QTVR movies panoramas: All videos are in Quicktime format (.mov), Quicktime Player (Mac and PC); Roam map and audio interviews : Flash Player (Mac and PC)] * Feedback [an online questionnaire]; * Acknowledgements.
URL http://virtualvillage.wesleyan.edu
Link reported by: Peter Gottschalk (pgottschalk--at--wesleyan.edu)
Internet Archive http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://virtualvillage.wesleyan.edu
* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]: Study/Documents
* Publisher [academic - business - govt. - library/museum - NGO - other]: Academic
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]: Essential
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000 - under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 100