変な Henna Tattoos at Kobe India Festival

Over the weekend while exploring Kobe we came across the India Mela 2011 in Merikan Park. There were performances, food, booths selling various Indian merchandise, etc. The Indian food was tempting but we had already made plans to gorge ourselves with meat at the nearby Brazilian restaurant. Somehow the India Mela didn't captivate me as much as other ethic festivals I have attended in the past, especially the Thai Festival in Frankfurt last summer (perhaps already being in Japan I already have enough of the orientalist fix...). What did catch our eyes were the henna tattoos.

Why not mark up our bodies temporarily? The tattoos were supposed to last for a week to ten days they told us.

We requested matching tattoos, 1000 yen each. However the artist wasn't able to make them match and we got a 500 yen discount. Still they looked kinda cool until the henna dried and flaked off, leaving very light markings on our skin no one has noticed this week.

Resource: CIViC - An Archive of Indian Visual Culture

Announcement from H-ASIA:

CIViC - An Archive of Indian Visual Culture

Brief description (from their web site): We preserve, archive, document and research populist imagery from the inception of print culture in the 19th century to contemporary times. Our growing digital image archive is one of the most significant in India and constitutes our focus of research.

Explore our site to browse our services, view select images from our digital archives, join discussions on our blog and read articles on current areas of research on our Forum.

While this isn't Japan-related, this is still a great resource for visual anthropology. Check it out!

Link: http://civicarchives.org/

"McDonaldisation, Masala McGospel and Om Economics"

Not Japan (or even Germany) related, but some interesting visual anthropology and globalization stuff...

Announcement from H-ASIA, Member's publication:

Jonathan D James, McDonaldisation, Masala McGospel and Om Economics: Televangelism in contemporary India. (New Delhi, Sage Publications, August 2010), ISBN: 978-813-210473-5, Hardback, 268 pages.

The book takes the American phenomenon of televangelism out of its usual context into India and seeks to understand its outworking in a new historical, cultural, religious, political, and economic setting. The Indian Government's open policy on satellite television is attracting a plethora of American-based television ministries (especially the Charismatic brand of Christianity).

The book, based on an ethnographic study of Church and Hindu community leaders from India likens global televangelism to 'McDonaldisation', because of its standardized, "one size fits all" approach. 'Glocal' televangelism, the fusion of American and Indian televangelism, is referred to as 'Masala McGospel,' because the Indian elements in the programs are overshadowed by the American grammar and logic of global televangelism. Hindu televangelism, a relatively new phenomenon, is also creating a disjunction because of the blending of New Age spirituality with the Charismatic (American) marketing and commercial techniques.

For more information:
http://www.sagepub.in/browse/book.asp?bookid=1508&mode=1