[Reader-list] 'The Nature of Ragging in Hostels': First Research Posting

[SPACE]

Here is the (slightly edited) text of the research proposal for an
Independent Fellowship submitted by Shivam Vij of SPACE [Society for
People's Action, Change and Enforcement] Stop Ragging Campaign to
Sarai-CSDS. The fellowship has been granted for a period of six
months.

o o o o o

Please find enclosed my resume and a proposal for Student Stipend for
Research on the City.

This is an ongoing long-term project and the enclosed proposal is only
a part of it. I hope, however, that financial and critical support for
the work would help it regain momentum and form a strong foundation
eventually leading to a book* on the practice of ragging and the forms
it has taken in South Asia's educational institutions.

The proposal is not activist but documentary in intent. It is however,
part of the SPACE Stop Ragging Campaign, insofar as I believe it is
important to understand the nature of ragging if we seek to eliminate
it. This acquires an urgency given the political correctness that
ragging enjoys in society. I seek to counter that by exposing the bare
facts of ragging, and showing it in its nakedness. It might seem I am
presuming that all aspects of ragging are debilitative: however, if
ragging indeed fulfils a social function, I will not attempt to hide
such findings, but instead problematise them.

The entire work will be made available at www.stopragging.org. The
site is a property of SPACE, but all work done under the studentship
will acknowledge Sarai-CSDS' support, and will also be available to
Sarai-CSDS for publication in any format.

Thanking you,
Shivam Vij

o o o o o o o o

Proposal for Application for Student Stipend for Research on the City

1. Research question: What is the nature of ragging?

In its landmark 2001 judgement that has played a tremendous role in
reducing ragging, the Supreme Court of India has defined ragging as:

Any disorderly conduct whether by words spoken or written or by an act
which the effect of teasing, treating or handling with rudeness any
other student, Indulging in rowdy or in-disciplined activities which
causes or is likely to cause annoyance, hardship or psychological harm
or to raise fear or apprehension thereof in a fresher or a junior
student or asking the students to do any act or perform something
which such student will not do in the ordinary course and which has
the effect of causing or generating a sense of shame or embarrassment
so as to adversely affect the physique or psyche of a fresher or a
junior student.

While this is legally adequate, it is not enough to explain what
ragging really is, and how it has driven young men and women to the
extent of committing suicide. The proposed research will attempt to
explore the nature of the now-banned but continuing practise
specifically in the following areas:

a) Ragging and Society: Despite the violence, the suicide cases and
the grotesque stories that occasionally make it to the media, what is
it that makes ragging politically correct in society? Why do you have
so many people defending it? Does ragging fulfil any social functions?
Does society abdicate any responsibilities by allowing ragging? What
is the relation between an individual (fresher) and a society composed
of seniors who wish to 'rag' him/her?

b) Ragging and memory: A fresher goes through torture, harassment and
abuse, and mostly resents it. Yet, why does he turn into a ragger
himself the following year? What drives him to inflict the same injury
on a fresh batch of students? It is often found that by now resentment
has changed to an avowed insistence that 'I enjoyed being ragged'.
What exactly is the role of memory in ragging? How do memories, real
and imagined, affect 'mass' ragging?

c) Ragging and sexuality: Why is so much of ragging sexual in nature?
Why does a male senior wish to see the body of a male junior, and this
has gone to the extent, in some cases, of male rape. Is sexuality
being merely used as a tool of humiliation? Or could the senior be
experimenting with his own sexuality?

d) Ragging and women: I felt that there was a need to have a separate
section on ragging and women. The atrocities committed in the name of
ragging are unimaginable, and the atrocities committed in the name of
ragging by young women to young women are even more unimaginable. How
do we see this in the light of feminist discourses? Could gender-based
repression and discrimination have a role in this?**

e) Ragging and the media: Even before a fresher enters the space of a
college hostel, his knowledge of what constitutes ragging is defined
by (a) news reports of ragging, (b) features on ragging in newspapers,
and (c) what he is told about ragging by others, including those who
have experienced it. The greatest role here, I believe, is played by
(a) and (b). Newspaper coverage of the subject will be analysed and
commented upon, with specific attention the ways, if any, in which the
media may promote ragging. Also, attempts will be made to find out
what problems journalists face in exposing hostel ragging.

f) Ragging and the law: This brief section will document and examine
anti-ragging laws, how they came into being, how effective have they
been, and what changes are required in them.

g) Ragging suicides: This section will document some stories of
ragging suicides, what drove the victim to commit suicide, and what
happened to the case after that.

Source material, methodology and work plan: The research is primarily
in the realm of field work. When we began our work in June 2004 we
invited people to write about their ragging experience, specially
ragging victims. We got some heart-wrenching first-hand stories, but
many were unwilling to write, for reasons that included not wanting to
recall their trauma. I will, in the course of the research,
extensively interview victims and record what they have to say. The
interview format will also enable me to ask specific questions that
cover the finer details of my project. The interviewees will primarily
be ragging victims, and the places of interview will be Delhi,
Lucknow, and Kanpur. Those in other areas may be interview by someone
else, or through the internet.

Some interviews will also be of those who have experienced ragging but
are not its 'victims'. It would be interesting, for instance, to meet
someone who is willing to acknowledge he was ragged harshly, and also
committed sexual ragging.

A number of psychiatrists and sociologists have experience in the
field, and have also written about it, will be interviewed and their
existing body of work made accessible at www.stopragging.org.

In the paper I eventually present I will draw some conclusions, but
they would primarily be suggestive, throwing up a debate, or rather
many debates. Because the work will constantly be made available in
the public domain (via www.stopragging.org), it is likely to give rise
to an inter-debate, with different people responding to different
experiences and conclusions. This has already been experienced in the
debates on ragging and sexuality, which are documented along with all
our work so far at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopragging/

It is unlikely that I will be able to complete my work in the course
of the six months-long Fellowship, but should have at least 50 ragging
stories, and 50 commentaries from people including psychiatrists and
sociologists. This should form a healthy base to continue my study on
the nature of ragging.

o o o o o o

some later footnotes:

leading to a book* - I had mentioned that this would be the first such
book, but as I later discovered, there is a book called "Ragging:
Unquiet Campus" which i'm trying to lay my hands on.

(Ragging and women)** - A later addition: Is a ragging system in a
hostel reflective of patriarchy?

o o o o o o

Anyone wishing to help or collaborate is most welcome. You are also
invited to join our mailing list: visit
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopragging/join or send a blank email
to stopragging-subscribe at yahoogroups.com

Personal queries may be addressed to help at stopragging.org

We would be especially grateful to you if you could:

a) volunteer to interview ragging victims, or people who have
experienced hostel ragging in general.
b) Share your own experience, if you have had any.
c) Write in your comments, especially if you have worked in the area
as a sociologist or psychiatrist.

Our website would be up by 1 February (hopefully!) and would be the
scene of a lot of activity on both fronts: activism and research.

Many thanks,
Team SPACE