About Us
Keeping Culture
ICES seeks to inform and educate...to inspire Mumbai to
take the lead in celebrating their ethnic incongruity:
appreciating and keeping their varied cultural
distinctives. ICES attempts to familiarize Indians with
their culturally diverse neighbors and countrymen, and
help to educate India's youth as well as international
communities about the fascinating, colorful, varied and
important cultures of Mumbai...that they may keep them!
Example: There are a myriad of religions practiced
within the city, whose population is 82% Hindu, 12%
Muslim, and a large number of Sikh, Jain, Parsee,
Buddhist and Christians. Within the Hindu designation
are literally thousands of ways of worship, hundreds of
gurus and paths of devotion followed. We chose a
popular guru, Sai Baba, as a research subject. We
wanted to know who he is, the impact he has had on
Hindu society and how and why they have chosen him
as a focus of their devotion. We discovered two Sai
Babas, which everyone knew except us when we began.
We searched books written by devotees, the Internet,
and interviewed worshippers. Our ICES researcher
went to places considered holy, and observed worship.
With hundreds of thousands of worshippers in the city
and millions worldwide, Sai Baba is important to the
religious fabric of Mumbai society.
Example: Women. Educated, uneducated,
professional, traditional housewives, businesswomen
and household servants. With such a diversity of roles,
roles that are changing rapidly in Mumbai, we felt it was
important to spend time trying to understand how their
lives are changing, what they believe, where they came
from, and where they are headed, what their dreams are
for the future, and what they hold dear to teach their
children. The researcher interviewed ten women at
length, capturing the heart of each woman.
ICES Publishing USA
ICES researchers observe the culture. Whether foreign or Indian researchers, their job
is to watch people interact with one another and with their environment. Researchers
look at the details of people's lives and from what they see, begin to ask questions.
Preconceptions and previous experiences are intentionally set aside, as they ask
questions about what they have observed. Depending on the project, they might talk with
every member of a family. Or, they might dialogue with elderly people, perhaps even the
most senior of a community to glean a sense of the culture's history and changes that
have occurred. Contrarily, they might focus entirely on children.
It is critically important for Mumbai, and for India, that as surely as globalization happens,
culture is kept. Keeping cultures is what ICES is all about.
