https://www.youtube.com/c/CENTREFORWOMENSDEVELOPMENTSTUDIES/live
Abstract:
The new economic reforms of 1991 led to the emergence of a consumption-driven economy and a booming service industry, producing new aspirations and sensibilities. Delhi’s new ‘world-class’ spaces of employment, pleasure and consumption demand new modes of belonging. At the level of the workforce in the service industry, belonging is mediated by proficiency in English and soft skills. Similarly, the clients also must demonstrate a knowledge of taste and distinction that goes beyond possessing the monetary means to consume. However, neither of these dispositions and skills are naturally given. Grooming institutions have emerged as sites that teach clients new lifestyle practices and how to be ‘professional’. They range from spoken English and personality development classes, finishing schools and image management. I argue that the grooming schools in Delhi are breaking down the seemingly global-urban lifestyle into teachable components of language, attitude, deportment, etiquette and appearance. Furthermore, they have emerged as sites that not only fashion the urbane subject but also propose the discourse of that urbanity. This presentation is an ethnography of one such finishing school in Delhi that trains upper-class women in body language, etiquette and lifestyle practices. Through its pedagogy and classes, I examine how the “cosmopolitan diva” is fashioned. This paper positions the women and their desires alongside the changing visuals cape of the city. I highlight pleasure and conspicuous spending, where etiquette by itself, through the lessons become an aspirational and desirable phenomenon. Moreover, I also ground the finishing school as a space that consolidates class and caste identities.