This article offers an ethnographic exploration of the lived experiences of people in Shahpur Jat—original residents, migrant workers, shopkeepers, designers, domestic workers, and families—based on fieldwork conducted in 2017–18 and again in 2024–25. Rather than viewing the urban village through planning categories or land-use maps, the study foregrounds the everyday practices, encounters, and negotiations through which residents and migrants make sense of life in a rapidly changing settlement.

Across both fieldwork periods, the village emerges as a dense social world where Jat landowning families, long-settled non-Jat households, and migrant labourers from Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand live in proximity yet inhabit unequal positions. Their stories reveal how economic pressures, caste hierarchies, gender norms, and informal labour arrangements shape daily routines—whether in tailoring workshops, dye units, boutiques, rented rooms, courtyards, or narrow lanes.

COVID-19 marks a distinct rupture in these experiences: boutique closures, disrupted incomes, rising rents, and shifting migration patterns altered how workers lived and worked, while local families navigated new uncertainties alongside older forms of authority and belonging. Yet despite these disruptions, Shahpur Jat remains a place sustained by relationships—between employers and karigars, landlords and tenants, neighbours and co-workers—relationships that are fragile, uneven, and constantly renegotiated.

By centring voices and experiences across social groups, this article argues that Shahpur Jat exemplifies the everyday urbanism of Delhi: a place where village memory, migrant precarity, aspiration, and informal economies intersect and shape the rhythms of ordinary life.

Keywords: Urban villages; Everyday urbanism; Informal economy; Socio-spatial change; Ethnography; Shahpur Jat; Delhi; Lived experience; Urban transformation.

In rural India, the growing presence of social media has introduced new challenges for children’s privacy, emotional health, and identity development. This study investigates the impact of digital media on young people in a village in Varanasi, shedding light on how online interactions are reshaping their understanding of privacy, relationships, and self-identity. With social media platforms becoming increasingly accessible, rural children are now exposed to global digital environments, often without the resources or awareness to protect their personal information. The paper examines how these digital influences contribute to emotional vulnerabilities and alter cultural ties in rural settings. By exploring the intersection of social media, privacy, and childhood in this context, the research calls for more robust digital literacy initiatives and privacy safeguards, emphasising the need to protect the well-being of children navigating the complexities of an online world.

Keywords: Children’s privacy, social media impact, rural India, digital literacy, emotional well-being.

This paper explores the emerging food processing technology, the Electronic Yam Processor (EYP), and how its penetration could displace the Mortar and Pestle Pounding (MPP) to adversely affect Yoruba culture. Culture, a people's total way of life, is composed of language, technology, values, beliefs, and norms. Among its key functions, culture confers identity, defines social reality, assigns statuses/roles and enhances adaptation. Although the technological component of every culture enhances the adaptation of a people to environmental challenges, the injection of foreign technology has a subversive effect on the entire way of life. Focusing specifically on Iyán (pounded yam), the paper discusses how the EYP could cause valuecide, lauguage-cide and health risks. Purposive Sampling Technique was used to select 10 online Vendors on Facebook, while 160 undergraduates of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, were conveniently picked to participate in this study. The Undergraduates were made to watch videos demonstrating how the yam-processors work and later told to react in writing. The Vendors' Advert Messages and Undergraduates' writings were then subjected to Content Analysis. The study reveals deliberate deceptive presentation of the yam-processing devices, and that stress-avoidance as well as instant finishing were hyped as a marketing strategy. It also finds massive aversion for the indigenous mortar-pestle technology among young Yoruba and the eagerness to acquire the emerging yam-processors. It is recommended that urgent and intensive enlightenment be embarked upon to stem the impending culture subversion, especially on language, and exposure to the health risk of obesity.

Keywords: Iyán, Pounded-yam, Food Processing, Culture Subversion, Valuecide, Obesity.

In the world of health studies, investigations of blood pressure (BP) have been shown to be a prominent marker. Several body compositional indicators and lifestyle disorders play a significant role in determining BP. This cross-sectional study included 377 adult Kisan participants (including both male and female) from Malda, West Bengal. Descriptive and inferential statistics were calculated using SPSS version 27.0. Results: Most participants were hypertensive, which is a concern. The data revealed that the mean body composition in the normotensive category was the lowest and gradually increased in each MAP category. In males, VF (r = 0.338, p < 0.01) and %BF (r = 0.333, p < 0.01), whereas in females, age (r = 0.390, p < 0.01), VF (r = 0.383, p < 0.01) and %BF (r = 0.350, p < 0.01) exhibited the strongest correlation with MAP. Stepwise linear regression depicted age % BF and BSA as the best predictors of MAP for combined sexes, which significantly explained 19.1% of the variance in MAP. Overall, the results demonstrated sex-specific differences in MAP predictors. It is comprehensible from the aforementioned findings that anthropometric factors are positively correlated with the MAP categories. Moreover, sex-specific differences were observed. It is obvious that, if desired, a unit of a particular change in the relevant body composition variables can lower BP to a given level.

Keywords: Adiposity, Body Composition, Blood Pressure, BSA, MAP, Fat percentage.

Communication always results in the exchange of messages between two or more groups/persons. In recent years, the media has started to play a vital role in the dissemination of knowledge across cultures. In this paper, an attempt is made to find out how the media can influence two speech communities on topics related to beauty and wellness. The Sonowal Kacharis and the Mishings are the two Scheduled Tribes of Assam, with two distinct cultures. They come in contact with different forms of media, the impact of which can be noticed in their perspectives towards beauty and wellness. The paper intends to discuss the different forms of media as channels of communication and their influence on these communities. It tries to find out how the media makes its forays in the world of beauty and wellness among these tribes.

Keywords: Media, Channel, Communication, Beauty, Ethnography of Communication.

This study seeks to identify the demographic, economic, and cultural factors that influence divorce rates in Mizoram, with a particular emphasis on age group, educational level, occupation, place of residence, and wealth index. The analysis draws on the secondary data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) based on an ever-married women sample. Descriptive statistics were employed using SPSS-25, including bivariate analysis such as cross-tabulation. The results revealed that the divorce rate fluctuated from 1992-93 to 2019-21. Lunglei district has the highest divorce rate (96 per 1,000) among all the districts. Urban areas displayed higher divorce rates compared to rural areas. Divorce rates were highest among individuals aged 20 to 24, with a significant decrease in divorce rates among older age groups. Secondary educational attainment was associated with the highest divorce rates. Women employed in the “sales” profession exhibit higher divorce rates compared to those not working. For example, the divorce rate among women employed in sales stands at 200 per 1,000 ever-married women, whereas it is 79 per 1,000 among women not working during the years 2019-21. Moreover, the impact of wealth on marital relationships was noticeable, with higher wealth, the richest wealth index scores, correlating with slightly elevated divorce rates. In 2019-21, the divorce rate stood at 71 per 1,000 among the poorest wealth quintiles and 72 per 1,000 among the richest wealth quintiles. Fewer children are linked with higher divorce rates. The study emphasises the need for policymakers to implement targeted interventions to tackle socio-economic disparities and promote marital stability.

Keywords: Mizoram, divorce, dissolution, separation, marital instability.

This article seeks to explore how the Kalbelia of Rajasthan in India negotiate their ethnic identity. The Kalbelia is a tribal community who are well known for their traditional dance form and snake charming practices. In recent times, their identity is one of the most complex issues since there are lots of confusion and debate in connection with their ethnic identity. Their identity varies at the local level due to different societal and cultural effects, geographical affiliation, perception of the community, misunderstanding and so on. This paper aims at portraying how the community encounters the phenomena of their identity under variable socio-economic contexts in the state. Religious beliefs of the community also play an important role in shaping their identity. The article further questions the outlook of the administration of Rajasthan towards the Kalbelia identity.

Keywords: Geographical affiliation, Identity, Kalbelia, Religious belief, Societal and cultural effects.

The dietary practices and cultural frameworks of tribal communities are deeply interconnected with their natural surroundings, resulting in a distinctive relationship among food, identity, and sustainability. This study explores the ecological, nutritional, and sociocultural aspects of tribal food systems in India, emphasising their role in enhancing holistic wellbeing and promoting sustainable living. Through examples from indigenous communities, it analyses traditional methods of foraging, cooking, and food preservation, underscoring their significance in maintaining biodiversity, preserving cultural heritage, and ensuring intergenerational knowledge transfer. Additionally, the study examines the threats posed by modernisation, deforestation, and climate change to these food systems, highlighting the urgent need to incorporate them into global discussions on food security and environmental conservation. By advocating for the recognition of tribal food traditions, this research underscores their relevance in addressing contemporary global challenges.

Keywords: Tribal food systems, sustainable living, cultural heritage, biodiversity conservation, climate resilience, holistic wellbeing, indigenous communities, food security.