Socio-cultural dynamics of institutions among the Sugalis of South India

As south Asia is hub of under-privileged communities, it is very crucial to understand their institutions and its effects on their lives and livelihoods. Despite of geographical limitations and introduction of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI’s), these communities have retained traditional institutions with lot of fervor. These institutions play crucial role in the maintenance of community well-being and social relations between them and in and outside of the community. It is clearly evident from the different studies that the institutions such as family, marriage and kinship and inter-relationships among them resulted shifts and turns but maintain its traditional functions. Though there is outside cultural and social influences, these institutions still got prominence among the Sugalis lives and livelihoods. This is clearly evident from the Sugalis of south India. The present paper tries to bring out these shifts and turns of socio-cultural dynamics prevailed among Sugalis and also the changing nature of these institutions due to the influx of outside culture. The present paper draws its inferences from the data gathered from the empirical study among the Sugalis of south India.