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0:04
In order to flesh out this fairly abstract notion of
cultural reflexivity and glocalization,
let's take a look at the consumption of yoga in India.
From the classical perspective,
the question, "Why do Indians do yoga?"
is a silly one because according to national stereotypes,
that is what Indians do.
Indians are considered to be yogis,
sitting on their mats doing yoga whenever they have a little time to do so.
However, this picture, as we all could guess,
is very far from reality.
In fact, yoga for a long time fell into
disgrace by the growing urban youthful middle class.
It was perceived as a "grandmothers' practice" and not "suitably modern".
However, lately, it's back in vogue as consumed by a growing,
modernizing Indian middle class.
So, the question is,
why do Indians suddenly consider yoga suitably modern and starting to practice it again?
1:10
Yoga has since long been a link between Indian culture and the rest of the world.
In fact, yoga was introduced to the Western world through
world exhibitions in the United States in the late 19th century.
A study carried out by myself and my colleague and friend, and Giana Eckhardt,
produced six different ways in which contemporary Indians consume yoga and
provides us with an excellent example of the current mixture of
cultures in explaining why people buy something,
in this particular case,
why people buy yoga classes.
