Variation in physique in North India in relation to urbanization and economic status - article ; n°1 ; vol.1, pg 3-43

Pranab Ganguly

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Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'anthropologie de Paris - Année 1974 - Volume 1 - Numéro 1 - Pages 3-43
41 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

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• Sociologie, société et politique

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• Publié par: BULLETINS_ET_MEMOIRES_DE_LA_SOCIETE_D-ANTHROPOLOGIE_DE_PARIS0
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1974
• Nombre de lectures: 14
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

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Pranab Ganguly
Variation in physique in North India in relation to urbanization
and economic status
In: Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'anthropologie de Paris, XIII° Série, tome 1 fascicule 1, 1974. pp. 3-43.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Ganguly Pranab. Variation in physique in North India in relation to urbanization and economic status. In: Bulletins et Mémoires
de la Société d'anthropologie de Paris, XIII° Série, tome 1 fascicule 1, 1974. pp. 3-43.
doi : 10.3406/bmsap.1974.2087
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/bmsap_0037-8984_1974_num_1_1_2087et Mém. de la Soc. d'Anthrop. de Paris, t. 1er, série XIII, 1974, pp. 3-43 Bull,
VARIATION IN PHYSIQUE IN NORTH INDIA
IN RELATION TO URBANIZATION AND ECONOMIC STATUS
by Pranab Ganguly
Anthropological Survey of India
Calcutta
I. Introduction
A scientific enquiry usually consists of three distinct operations, namely
experiment, observation and inference. An experiment is an operation carried
out under controlled conditions in order to discover an unknown effect or
law, to test or establish a hypothesis, or to illustrate a known law. The
creation of in an experiment is intended to minimize or
eliminate experimental errors. For various reasons, anthropologists could
not give adequate attention to the experimental approach in the past
and, consequently, the status of anthropology as a science suffered.
In fact, that anthropology is a science has at times been doubted and even
challenged. In the investigation to be reported here an attempt has been made
to show how the experimental designs developed in connection with agri
cultural field research can be used by physical anthropologists in their own
researches and how the principles of experimentation can be advantageously
utilized outside a laboratory. As will be seen, besides its substantive contents
the present study tries to provide answers to some methodological problems.
To begin with, we shall discuss the rationale, objectives and scope of the
study.
It is well enough known that the cultural milieu in which a population
lives not only affects the genetic composition of the population by influencing
the direction and magnitude of gene flows and by other means, but it also
affects the extent of realization of hereditary growth and development
potentials. From the complex of environmental factors which are of cultural
origin, we have selected for the present study two important phenomena,
namely urbanization and the stratification of society into economic classes,
because of their widespread occurrence in most of the civilized populations
of the world. Urbanization is occurring in different countries at different
rates of progression. At present, only a part of the natural growth of rural société d'anthropologie de paris
population is moving to the towns and cities. But it has been predicted that
in countries where a high agricultural density with a low productivity per
capita is observed, almost all natural growth of population in agricultural
areas will soon migrate to the cities (Arriaga, 1968). Like urbanization, the
stratification of society into economic classes also appears to be an ongoing
process. Human societies are dynamic, not static, and the patterns of socio-
economic stratification show considerable spatial-temporal variations. But,
with the exception of a few tribal societies, socio-economic inequality is
found to occur in varying degrees nearly everywhere. The bodily changes
related with these two almost universa phenomena are likely to be of great
interest from the point of view of human micro-evolution.
India is a predominantly agricultural country with high density of popul
ation. Of the 439 millions who constituted the population of India in 1961,
360 millions or 82 percent lived in villages and 79 millions or 18 percent
lived in cities and towns. There has been a slow but steady shift towards
urbanism between the years 1921 and 1961 as shown in Table 1.
Table 1. — Rural and urban population in India (1921-1961) (*).
Percentage 1921 1941 1931 1951 1961 of total population
Rural 88.8 88.0 86.1 82.7 82.0
Urban 11.2 12.0 13.9 17.3 18.0
(*) After Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India 1970 : 15.
India is also economically an under-developed country. The proportion
of the population in the lower expenditure groups, incurring consumer
expenditure upto Rs. 300 per month per household, is higher (90 to 95 %)
in the rural areas than in the urban areas (70 to 90 %) in almost all the
States of India (Planning Commission, Govt. of India 1967 : 31). The econo
mically better-off classes show a higher concentration in urban areas than in
rural areas.
Some scholars in Europe have observed that, in comparison with rural
peoples, the inhabitants in cities have on the average longer and narrower
heads, taller stature, lighter skin and certain other characteristics. They
observe that the urbanités who climb up the socio-economic ladder become
less and less prolific and the cities are almost continuously draining the
surplus and the best elements of the country population to maintain the
balance. According to some other scholars, however, these findings are
merely local phenomena and are not adequate for making wider generalizat
ions. In this connection, we would like to know the condition that prevails
in India. Are there significant physical differences between the urban and
rural populations of India, and between the well-to-do and poorer sections of
the ? The first goal of the present study will be to present a
body of data that throws some ligts on this problem. Attempts will also be
made to ascertain by suitable statistical means the main effects of habitat GANGULY. VARIATION IN PHYSIQUE IN NORTH INDIA 5 P.
and economic status and the interaction between them. Secondly, it will be
our endeavour to understand, as far as possible, the mechanism by which
such differences are brought about. The causal hypotheses put forth by
different authors will be critically examined. Finally, the material presented
here will serve as an example of the applicability and usefulness of experi
mental designs in physical anthropology. One of the great merits of these
designs is that they allow us to control extraneous variations from different
sources and thereby increase the validity of our conclusions. The application
of the principles of experimentation in the collection of data from the field
and subsequent analysis ought to be considered as a major methodological
advance in bio-anthropological research.
This investigation has been concerned with the collection of anthropo
métrie and skin colour data from the Brahmans and Muslims of western
Uttar Pradesh according to a 4 X4 Latin square design and with the statis
tical treatment and interpretation of the data by employing the technique of
analysis of variance. Although anthropometry is no longer considered fashio
nable by some genetically minded research workers, it yielded valuable
results in the past and can yield still better results if properly utilized. We
used anthropometry because it suited well with the nature of our problem
and our requirements. It must be remembered that in the present study our
interest lies, not in the genetic classification of populations, but in the pro
cess of physical differentiation in relation to cultural environment. In this
connection, the following quotation from Talbot and Mulhall (1962 : 121)
is quite pertinent :
« The future of physical anthropology is undoubtedly bound up with
that of genetics, but although genetical classification, as by blood groups,
can probably claim to be more precise in its explanation of the effects of
heredity, it seems fairly certain that the measurement of form must still
retain its importance in assessing the combined effects of heredity and envi
ronment. »
As some relevant work has already been done, we shall first give a
summary survey of the past works which does not purport to be exhaustive
but is intended to show what has so far been achieved in this particular field.
The various premises and hypotheses that have been advanced from time to
time to account for the observed physical differences will also be briefly
examined. This will be followed by a short account of the field study which
has recently been carried out by the author in western Uttar Pradesh in
North India. The earlier hypotheses will then be re-examined in the light
of the main findings of this study with a view to qualify or confirm some of
them.
II. — Earlier works
The earlier investigations which have some bearing upon the subject
matter of the present study may be broadly divided into the following cate
gories : (1) those aiming to study the somatic differences between urban and
rural peoples ; (2) those aiming to study the somatic differences between SOCIETE D ANTHROPOLOGIE DE PARIS
higher and lower socio-economic classes, including occupational classes ;
and (3) those aiming to study the effects of economic background of the
family on the growth and maturation of children. The investigations of the
first two ca