Smog in a time of tobacco control

Russell, Andrew

doi:10.1111/1467-8322.12395

Smog in a time of tobacco control

Russell, Andrew

Authors

Professor Andrew Russell a.j.russell@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Abstract

This article reflects on the irony of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control taking place in north India during the worst smog in Delhi's history. It is presented as both a material reminder that tobacco is not the only cause of respiratory disease and as a symbol of the permeation of the conference by tobacco industry interests. A further ironic connection is the proximity of the conference venue to Bisrakh, the birthplace of the demon king Ravana, whose statue was despoiled in the months preceding the Diwali festival which celebrates his vanquishing by Ram. Older Bisrakh residents are reported as mourning rather than celebrating Ravana's death during the festival, although younger people are turning their backs on such practices. A new statue of Ravana had recently been vandalized. With the smog which occurred being attributed partly to fireworks from Diwali, the set of anthropological knots unravel to reveal a continuous thread: the message that it is necessary to respect your demons, whether they be tobacco or part of the Hindu pantheon.

Citation

Russell, A. (2017). Smog in a time of tobacco control. Anthropology Today, 33(6), 27-29. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8322.12395

Journal Article Type	Article
Online Publication Date	Dec 1, 2017
Publication Date	Dec 1, 2017
Deposit Date	Dec 14, 2017
Publicly Available Date	Jun 21, 2019
Journal	Anthropology Today
Print ISSN	0268-540X
Electronic ISSN	1467-8322
Publisher	Wiley
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	33
Issue	6
Pages	27-29
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8322.12395

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© 2017 The Authors. Anthropology Today published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal Anthropological Institute.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.