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Spatializing Purity and Pollution: Stigma and Consumption of Beef in India

Consumer Culture Theory

ISBN: 978-1-78743-907-8, eISBN: 978-1-78743-906-1

Publication date: 5 February 2018

Abstract

Purpose: This paper examines beef consumption practices in two villages of Tamil Nadu, India. It inquires into how the upper castes create spatial boundaries to separate the inside from the outside in their consumption of beef.

Methodology: The research was carried out in two villages of Kariacheri and Pudupattinam located in the Kanchipuram district of Tamil Nadu, India. We conducted 70 in-depth interviews, and observed beef buying and consumption practices.

Findings: The research shows how the upper castes separate the inside from the outside and surreptitiously consume beef. Dalits or untouchables are unable to create such separations, and as a result are stigmatized and ostracized. Moreover, the distinction between the inside and the outside is not fixed but is in a state of transition.

Originality and value: This study offers insights into how stigma is defined by spatial boundaries. These insights help to understand purity, pollution, and stigma in consumption practices as ongoing processes that are often created to justify social divisions and discriminatory practices.

Keywords

Citation

Manoharan, B. and Varman, R. (2018), "Spatializing Purity and Pollution: Stigma and Consumption of Beef in India", Cross, S.N.N., Ruvalcaba, C., Venkatesh, A. and Belk, R.W. (Ed.) Consumer Culture Theory (Research in Consumer Behavior, Vol. 19), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 93-110. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0885-211120180000019006

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

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