Literacy Practices of The Mumbai Dabbawalas, India
Writing an Ethnographic Case Study
Summary
Using qualitative research methods, the author provides readers with insights into conducting a cross-cultural international ethnographic case study. She offers detailed explanations of her coding process and how she analyzed the extensive data to support her argument that the Dabbawalas' literacy practices contribute to their success. Additionally, Dr. Krishnan's cross-cultural study adds a new dimension to the field of ethnographic case study and challenges the autonomous model of literacy.
Excerpt
Table Of Contents
- Cover
- Halftitle Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- List of Abbreviations
- Prolegomenon
- Preface
- Why is it Titled Writing an Ethnographic Case Study? And When was the Data Gathered?
- What Can Readers Expect from This Book?
- What is the Format and Outline of the Book?
- Part I: Dream
- Part II: Design
- Part III: Develop
- Part IV: Demonstrate
- Who Can Read This Book and Use it?
- Few Notes to My Readers
- Acknowledgments
- Part I: Dream
- Chapter One: Visualizing the Research Topic
- Chapter Two: Narrowing and Providing a Rationale for Choosing a Specific Topic: Illiteracy and Indigenous Group
- Rationale for Choosing the Topic: Why is it Important?
- Rationale for Choosing to Investigate the Literacy Aspect of the Dabbawalas and Why?
- Rationale for Focusing on Illiteracy and Indigenous Group: Why Indigenous Groups?
- Chapter Three: Choosing the Dissertation Director
- Chapter Four: Formatting the Research Question
- Chapter Five: Developing a Rough Sketch of Methods Section
- Chapter Six: Passing the CITI Test and Writing the IRB: What is IRB? Why IRB?
- Chapter Seven: Writing the Prospectus or Proposal for Submission to the Committee
- Introduction
- The Scope of the Problem
- Methodology
- Contribution to the Field
- Organization of the Dissertation
- Timeline for Completion of Project
- Part II: Design
- Chapter Eight: Understanding the Methodology
- Chapter Nine: Choosing the Location and Participants
- Chapter Ten: Chalking Out Other Aspects of the Research in Minute Details: Including Writing Field Notes
- Chapter Eleven: Arriving at the Location: Bounding the Study
- Chapter Twelve: Designing the Data Collection
- Part III: Develop
- Chapter Thirteen: Unpacking All Aspects of the Field Notes Including Transcribing and Translating
- Chapter Fourteen: Beginning of Coding (Fracturing and Reducing) from Data Dump to Data Saturation to Data Theorization
- Starter Codes
- Open Codes
- Chapter Fifteen: Recognizing the Complexity and Beauty in Coding Through Personal Memos and Overcoming Frustration
- Overcoming Frustration While Coding
- Chapter Sixteen: Cross-checking and Ensuring Ethical Practices: Triangulation and New Discovery—Triangle Becomes Cyclical
- Chapter Seventeen: Findings Based on Selective Coding and Deciphering the Larger Picture
- Finding 1: What Are the Literacy Practices of Dabbawalas in General?
- Analysis and Answers to the Five Research Questions: Findings and Theory Building
- Chapter Eighteen: Writing the Ethnographic Case Study and Feeling: Upsilamba
- Part IV: Demonstrate
- Chapter Nineteen: Sending the Chapters to the Committee
- Chapter Twenty: Preparing for the Defense
- Chapter Twenty One: Developing Confidence and Delivering Your Brainchild
- Chapter Twenty Two: Succeeding in Your Efforts: Congratulating Yourself on a Job Well Done
- Chapter Twenty Three: Submitting to the National Repository: Official Completion of Thesis or Dissertation
- Appendix
- Index
List of Figures and Tables
Figures
Figure 1.Map of India with Maharashtra highlighted in green (Google Images).
Figure 2.Mumbai Suburban Railway routing (Google Images).
Figure 7.Hierarchical coding format.
Figure 9.Ethnographic texts and interpretation: Process of triangulation and cyclical writing.
Tables
Table 1.Aspects to Consider before Conducting a Cross-cultural Study Abroad
Table 2.Participants and Group Dynamics to be Considered before the Trip
Table 3.Time Period of My Initial Pilot Study
Table 4.Pickup and Delivery of Lunch boxes
Table 5.Individual Participants in the Field and Their Work Routine
Table 6.Dabbawalas—Interview Questions—Individual Meetings—Set I—IQ 101A, B, and C
Table 7.Dabbawalas—Focus Group Meetings and Questions—Set II—FG 101A and B
Table 8.Interview Questions: Individual and Focus Group Categories
Table 9.Type of Interviews, People Interviewed and Total Time (Sample Three Days)
Table 10.Forms and Signatures (Sample)
Table 11.Pre-interview, Interview, and Post-interview Sample of My First Interview with Mr. Medge
Table 12.Field Observation and Writing Methods
Table 13.Memos Reflecting the Day’s Events
Table 14.Example of Transcribing in the Notepad (Handwritten)
Table 15.Translation of the Above Example (Typed on the Computer)
Table 16.Array Showing Methodical Categories
Table 17.Organizing the Categories into Descriptive Starter Codes
Table 18.Starter Codes and Grouping into 56 Categories (Sample)
Table 19.Open Codes Sample and Description (56 Categories Reduced to 27)
Table 21.Axial Code—Acquisition of Literacy and Sponsorship (Sample)
Table 22.Axial Code—Literacy and Culture (Sample)
Table 23.Axial Code—Literacy and Strategies (Sample)
Table 24.Axial Code—Literacy and Business Model (Sample)
Table 25.Axial Code—Literacy and Mind-Mapping (Sample)
Table 26.Axial Code—Literacy and Limitations (Sample)
Table 27.Axial Code—Literacy and Constructing or Acquiring New Literacy (Sample)
Table 28.Axial Code—Literacy and World Recognition (Sample)
Table 29.Axial Code—Literacy and Dabbawalas’ Future Outlook (Sample)
List of Abbreviations
CITICollaborative Institutional Training Initiatives
CNSChakravarthi Narayana Sudarsanan
DBDabbawalas
FRQFramed Research Questions
IRBInstitutional Review Board
M.A.Master of Arts
MMRMixed Methods Research
NLGNew London Group
PhDDoctor of Philosophy
Prolegomenon
Brian Street (1996), in Literacy in Theory and Practice, begins his prolegomenon by discussing the established notions of literacy and illiteracy. He then proceeds to question the assumptions associated with them, including how these standards are used to frame literacy practices of native group members, their languages, and their ways of life. This allows him to reveal the “self-interested and ethnocentric” notions that exist in societies and the way some anthropologists, so-called objective scholars, have assessed ethnic and native groups in the past (p. x). He then discusses how he plans to “critique” the well-established autonomous models of literacy arguments and proposes an “alternative model” of literacy, by using his own fieldwork conducted in Iran in the 1970s (p. x). Reading the text, based on his observation and field notes of Maktab literacy, allows the readers to comprehend that literacy is ideological; it is the social context, milieu, language, and local culture that lead to a rich and robust native literacy practice, and why the “Western academic” technical approach to literacy cannot be used as a standard to assess indigenous or ethnic groups.
Following the footsteps of Brian Street, the literacy guru of the ideological model, this book provides its readers the design for conducting an overall ethnographic case study, methods to conduct such a study, gather and develop the research work, and practical application through the use of my own personal data findings, field notes, and observations—to reveal that literacy is indeed ideological. It also exposes to the readers how the autonomous model of labeling the Dabbawalas1 as illiterates or semi-literates is based on ethnocentric and cultural biases of scholars studying such groups. Further, this book attempts to show that only when a researcher interacts with the participants continuously for months, and sometimes years, can they comprehend what it means to be in the field and what it means to conduct an ethnographic case study, leading to understanding natives or ethnic groups in their own environment and valuing their literacy practices on their own merit. Thus, the title:
Literacy Practices of the Mumbai Dabbawalas, India.
Note
1Mumbai Dabbawalas—My ethnographic case study was based on studying the literacy practices of the Mumbai Dabbawalas, lunch carriers and deliverers, in the city of Mumbai, India. They are well known for their six-sigma business model and delivery; many universities including Ivy-league schools have conducted studies on their century-old sustainable business model. The Dabbawalas approach to their business, method of writing on the lunch boxes for pickup and delivery, and ways of delivering the food are not just unique but ingenious (although people think of it as very ordinary). Despite their success, these people have been called illiterates or semi-literates, and I was interested in knowing more about it and to see if they were truly illiterates or was there more to this definition than “what meets the eye.” My ethnographic case study proved that they are not only literate as per the ideological model of literacy, but there is a lot we can learn, as a society, from them. Indeed, after my study, I was in awe of these people, their philosophy, literacy practices, and their way of thinking and living.
Details
- Pages
- XL, 244
- Publication Year
- 2025
- ISBN (PDF)
- 9781433183102
- ISBN (ePUB)
- 9781433183119
- ISBN (MOBI)
- 9781433183126
- ISBN (Hardcover)
- 9781433183133
- DOI
- 10.3726/b20834
- Language
- English
- Publication date
- 2025 (July)
- Keywords
- ethnographic case study literacy practices indigenous group ideological model of literacy narrative journey cross-cultural study design qualitative research data analysis coding success factors marketing insights
- Published
- New York, Berlin, Bruxelles, Chennai, Lausanne, Oxford, 2025. XL, 244 pp., 2 b/w ill., 7 color ill., 31 tables.
- Product Safety
- Peter Lang Group AG
