Konduru: Structure and Integration in a South Indian Village

This is a detailed anthropological description and analysis of life in Konduru, a village in the central part of southern India about one hundred miles south of Hyderabad. The study is based on field work done by Professor Hiebert over a period of several years when he lived in the village, spoke its language, Telugu, and became closely acquainted with the people and their culture. After sketching the geographic and historical setting of the village, Professor Hiebert describes and discusses the social structure, including the societal categories, the various castes, the social groups including family, patrilineage, associations, and communities, and hamlets, villages, and towns in the region. There are chapters on status and power, networks of interpersonal relationships, panchayats (the system of justice), and rituals. Finally, the author discusses changes which are taking place in the society and culture of Konduru and presents his conclusions. He points out that this study of Konduru illustrates the importance of the village within the social order but at the same time demonstrates that the village cannot be understood apart from the other social groups in which its members are involved and interrelated, and that these relationships are neither static nor simple. But, as he concludes, the village is, for the individual, the concrete expression of his society. The book is illustrated with photographs, maps, and drawings. E. Adamson Hoebel, Regents' professor of anthropology at the University of Minnesota, writes a foreword.