Patricia Uberoi

Marriage, migration and gender

This is the final volume in the five volume series on Women and Migration in Asia. The articles in this volume bring a gender-sensitive perspective to bear on aspects of marriage and migration in intra- and transnational contexts. In particular, they consider: a) how, given specific rules of marriage and (post-marital) residence, the institution of marriage may itself entail womens migration; b) how marriage can be used as an individual and family strategy to facilitate migration, and conversely, how migration may become an important factor in the making of marriages; c) the fluid boundaries between matchmaking and trafficking in the context of migration; d) the political economy of marriage transactions; and finally, more broadly, e) the impact of intra- and transnational migration on the institution of marriage, family relations and kinship networks. While most of the articles here concern marriage in the context of transnational migration, it is important- given the reality of uneven development within the different countries of the Asian region - to emphasise the overlap and commonality of issues in both intra- and international contexts.

The diaspora comes home: Disciplining desire in DDLJ

A significant new development in the field of Indian family and kinship, and one which has so far barely been addressed in the sociology of India, is the internationalisation of the middle-class family. This paper analyses two popular Hindi films of the mid-1990s, Dilwale dulhania le jayenge (DDLJ) and Pardes, that thematise the problems of transnational location in respect of courtship and marriage. The two films share a conservative agenda on the family, but differ in their assessment of the possibility of retaining Indian identity in diaspora. DDLJ proposes that Indian family values are portable assets, while Pardes suggests that the loss of cultural identity can be postponed but ultimately not avoided. These discrepant solutions mark out Indian popular cinema as an important site for engagement with the problems resulting from middle-class diaspora, and for articulation of Indian identity in a globalised world.

Marriage and Migration in Asia Gender Issues

The articles in this special issue bring a gender-sensitive perspective to bear on aspects of marriage and migration in intra- and transnational contexts. In particular they consider: (a) how given specific rules of marriage and (post-marital) residence the institution of marriage may itself entail womens migration; (b) how marriage can be used as an individual and family strategy to facilitate migration and conversely how migration may become an important factor in the making of marriages; (c) the fluid boundaries between matchmaking and trafficking in the context of migration; (d) the political economy of marriage transactions; and finally more broadly (e) the impact of intra- and transnational migration on the institution of marriage family relations and kinship networks. While most of the articles here concern marriage in the context of transnational migration we consider it important--given the reality of uneven development within the different countries of the Asian region--to emphasise the overlap and commonality of issues in both intra- and international contexts. (excerpt)

Learning to 'Adjust': Conjugal Relations in Indian Popular Fiction

Amita Tyagi Singh, Uripok Bachaspati Leikai, Imphal 795001, Manipur. Patricia Uberoi is Reader in Social Change and Development at the Institute of Economic Growth, University Enclave, Delhi University, Delhi 110007. This paper looks at the way in which the problem of love between the sexes is constituted in a particular genre of contemporary Indian popular culture. Our data comprise primarily a set of 20 romantic short stories published over the course of the year 1988-89 in the English-language women’s magazine, Woman’s Era,l supplemented for illustrative purposes by a detailed analysis of some tales of conjugal relations picked out randomly from a more recent issue of the same magazine (2 May 1990). Corroborative and comparative material is drawn from other sections of Woman’s Era, in particular from the personal advice (’agony’) columns, from supposedly true-life stories of marriages that ended in divorce (a regular feature of the magazine at the time), and frc m non-fiction articles on courtship and conjugal relations. These finding are interpreted in the light of the rather sparse sociological writings on the dynamics of marital adjustment in contemporary Indian society. In general our analysis suggests that these tales serve important instructional and cautionary functions. Contemporary ’fables’, they socialise women readers to appreciate the hazards of courtship on the one hand, and on the other to accept the inevitable asymmetry of the conjugal bond through the promise of a fairytale ’happy ending’ to problems of marital adjustment. Here we address ourselves primarily to the representation of the conjugal relation.

'Unity in diversity?' Dilemmas of nationhood in Indian calendar art

This article focuses on the visual representation of the ideal of secularism in the popular print culture of the ‘Nehruvian’ era of Indian nation-building in the light of some contemporary controversies. The analysis reveals a tension between a relatively egalitarian understanding of the principle of ‘unity in diversity’, in which all religious traditions are conceived as equivalent sources of truth, and a ‘majoritarian’ understanding whereby other religions are appropriated to a Hindu order (represented by Mother India, the Mother Goddess, or the Mother Cow). This tension, as well as relations of equivalence, reciprocity and exchange, are illustrated in reference to a set of ‘Sikh’ calendars of the period. These calendars instantiate the delicate relations of similarity and difference, affinity and hostility, between the Hindu and Sikh faiths as constituents of the multi-religious society of post-Independence India. The article also illustrates the process whereby old images are reworked in new contexts, sometimes to provoke the assimilationist/separatist confrontation, but sometimes, on the contrary, to mark a gesture of conciliation.

Doing Kinship and Gender in a Comparative Context

Leela Dube (1923-2012) was an Indian social anthropologist / sociologist whose primary interest was in the field of family and kinship studies. This essay traces the zig-zag process of her intellectual evolution over five decades into one of the leading feminist anthropologists of her day – in India, in the Asian region, and indeed globally. Crucial turning points in this evolution were: (i) her self-initiated field study of the accommodation of the matrilineal kinship system of the Lakshadweep islanders with the androcentric legal apparatus of Islam; (ii) her role as the ‘sociologist’ member of the famous Committee on the Status of Women in India, an experience that convinced her that the best contribution she could make to the emerging women’s studies discourse was through the conceptual and methodological resources of her own discipline, anthropology; and (iii) her self-conscious deployment of the so-called ‘comparative method’ of anthropology to explore the contrasting patterns of gender relations in strongly ‘patrilineal’ South Asia versus ‘bilateral’ Southeast Asia. She saw this ambitious comparative exercise, largely ignored by both her admirers and her critics, as enabling an emancipatory rethinking of some of the dominant paradigms of Western feminism. It was also, incidentally, a bold step in the disciplinary evolution of Indian social anthropology.

Book reviews and notices : RAJNI PALRIWALA, Changing kinship, family and gender relations in south Asia: Processes, trends, and issues. Leiden: Women and Autonomy Centre, Leiden University, 1994. 153 pp. Notes, bibliography

brief outline of the historical genesis and evolution of the Kashmir question, starting from the mid-l9th century onwards. Against this background he juxtaposes the fate of democracy and federalism under the Indian regime in the region. Recounting the role and consequences of the violence perpetrated by the Indian State in its attempts to settle this deep-rooted political problem until the 1996 Assembly elections, Bose shows how this precipitated ’the uprising for national self-determination’ with continuing massive support for the idea of independence. With these two key concepts of ’democracy’ and ’self-determination’ he works towards a lasting democratically negotiated resolution among the three contending actors-Pakistan, India and the struggling groups demanding independence. This is a welcome addition to the literature on the Kashmir question for it combines passion with expertise.

Leela Dube: Introductory Note

Leela Dube (1923–2012) brought the expertise of an anthropologist to the fledgling discipline of women’s studies and, conversely, introduced the insights of women’s studies into mainstream social anthropology. She wrote the chapter on the social role of women in Towards Equality, and her work among the Muslim matrilineal community in Lakshadweep and comparative studies of kinship and gender remain of great significance. Examining gender, kinship, culture and caste through folk tales and songs, proverbs, legends and myths in addition to written accounts, interviews and personal observations, Leela brought a vibrancy to her prodigious body of work.

Book reviews and notices : A.M. SHAH, The family in India: Critical essays. New Delhi: Orient Longman, 1998. ix + 179 pp. Figures, tables, notes, references, index. Rs. 110 (paper back):

is organised into eight chapters. In the introductory chapter, Aloysius critically evaluates various theoretical positions for the study of religion, and also provides a useful ground for the subaltern approach to the understanding of socioreligious movements in India. Chapter 2 provides a clear picture of the colonial context. In the following three chapters, the author closely examines the life and writings of Pundit Iyothee Thass, the chief architect of Tamil Buddhism; the spread of the movement through the organisation and activities of Sakya/South Indian Buddhist Association; and the systematic development of Tamil Buddhist symbols, rituals, beliefs etc. vis-A-vis Hindu religious practices. The sixth and seventh chapters are devoted to understanding the process by which Tamil subalterns try to construct an alternative collective Buddhist emancipatory identity against the Hindu-Brahminical ideology. The Buddhist movement’s contribution to the Dravidian/anti-Brahmin movement and its impact on Dr. Ambedkar’s thought are discussed at length in the concluding chapter. Apart from in-depth interviews, the author’s direct access to the movement’s

Book reviews and notices : CHRISTOPHER PINNEY, Camera Indica: The social life of Indian photographs. Chicago: University of Chicago Press/London: Reaktion Books, 1997. 240 pp. Plates, references, glossary, index

Lee and Ackerman’s book is a specialised study of the transformations faced by the religious traditions of Islam, Hinduism, Christianity and Buddhism in Malaysia. Their main focus is on the process of religious revivalism in a society that is modernising, and is secular and rational. New religious movements and specifically charismatic leadership have made a place for themselves in modem Malaysia. The authors discuss the role of the state in enabling the religious pluralism witnessed. They also examine the role of the middle class and ’the marketability of charisma’. The latter’s success is attributed to the fact that such leadership provides an alternative to the chaos created by the fast pace of change that Malaysia is undergoing. It provides a new set of ’values in contrast to the perceived meaninglessness of a technologised social world’ (p. 12). The book has seven chapters that very succinctly outline the contemporary context of modernity and the ambiguities created by religious revitalisation; the historical creation of the present social milieu with religious and ethnic diversity ; the Islamic tradition and role of the state (Chapter 3); Buddhist revitalisation (Chapter 4); Hinduism, Tamil migrants and resurgence of identity through charismatic gurus (Chapter 5); and Christianity and its spread (Chapter 6). The final chapter examines the survival of religion in the face of modernity and the rise of ’new gods’ and ’new values’ in an increasingly secular world, where the new movements take one on a path to cultural rediscovery. A must-read for those interested in religious movements and/or specialising in Malaysian society.