Anna Lindberg

Islamisation, Modernisation, or Globalisation? Changed Gender Relations among South Indian Muslims

Introduction The familiar dichotomies ‘modern and traditional’, ‘public and private’, and ‘secular and religious’ have long been considered self-evident analytical categories in the social sciences. In recent years, however, an academic paradigm shift, together with the influence of post-colonial theories, has led many to question such binaries in an attempt to go beyond and dissolve them. The following examination of local practices within a South Asian culture in the context of modernity and globalisation takes this approach. The first section is a retrospective look at twentieth-century historical discourses about family systems among Muslims in South India. The second part analyses recent changes in cultural practices within the same group, focusing on the impact that migration and ‘Islamisation’ have had on gender relations over the past three or four decades. By ‘Islamisation’ I do not mean a fixed ideology, but a changing perception that strengthens religious and cultural values among people who consider themselves Muslims.

The Historical Roots of Dowries in Contemporary Kerala

Dowry payments from the family of the bride to that of the groom were rarely encountered in Kerala during the early twentieth century, but now are almost universal. Based on an examination of historical documents, including legislative debates, court cases, and reports, the way dowry was explained in the past is compared with the results of 200 contemporary interviews to determine its current rationale. Nowadays, making an obligatory payment for the maintenance of a wife, adherence to a social norm, and guaranteeing a womans good treatment have displaced earlier arguments related to inheritance, status in the social hierarchy, or a womans ability to provide for herself. Although several blurred traditions have been cited to account for dowries, they seem to have flourished in times of social inequity and uncertainty: the 1930s, 1970s, and 1990s. The emphasis on patriarchal nuclear families has created a mentality that a woman must pay for the privilege of being married and living securely.