What makes us different is what makes us human..
Shrines and Politics in India
Tirumal Nandiwalla headman and wife, Maharashtra, India, August 1975. Once a man achieved the position of headman, he held it for life.
1999 Disputes and Arguments Amongst Nomads: A Caste Council in India. Oxford University, p. 42.
Tirumal Nandiwalla nomad encampment, Maharashtra, India, July 1975. The Nandiwalla camp site was on the outskirts of Wadapuri, on the main road between Indapur and Akluj.
1999 Disputes and Arguments Amongst Nomads: A Caste Council in India. Oxford University, p.25.
Tirumal Nandiwalla caste council (panchayat), Maharashtra, India, August 1975.
"The most striking feature of panchayat debate is its seeming disorder and rowdiness.... Frequently more than one prospective speaker yells across the circle, leading to shouting matches of up to ten minutes before someone manages to speak without interference."
Robert M. Hayden1997 Turn-taking, overlap and the task at hand: ordering speaking turns in legal settings. American Ethnologist 14(2):258.
Performance with trained bull by nomadic Tirumal Nandiwallas, Maharashtra, India, July 1975.
"The hereditary occupation of the Nandiwallas is to go from place to place performing tricks with bulls that they have trained for that purpose. The nomads dress the bull in multi-colored blankets and decorate its horns with brass ornaments, and then perform acrobatic feats such as riding the bull, or seeming to be chased by it."
Robert M. Hayden, Disputes and Arguments Amongst Nomads: A Caste Council in India. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999. P. 16.
Devotees bringing offerings to the shrine of the Hindu/ Muslim saint Sri Kanifnath/ Shah Ramzan Mahi Savar, village Madhi, taluk Pathardi, Ahmadnagar District, Maharashtra, India, March 1992. Devotees include both Hindus and Muslims; the flagpoles of both are topped with a crescent, and some mix greenand saffron colored flags.
Robert Hayden
Dr. Hayden also holds appointments on the faculty of the Law School and in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, and is Director of the Center for Russian and East European Studies.
He is an anthropologist of law and politics, and has done extensive research in the former Yugoslavia, India and among the Senecas of New York state.
Selected Publications
1999 Disputes and Arguments Amongst Nomads: A Caste Council in India. Oxford University.
1997 Turn-taking, overlap and the task at hand: ordering speaking turns in legal settings. American Ethnologist 14(2).