Veiling and the Production of Gender and Space in a Town in North India

Abraham, Janaki

doi:10.1177/097152151001700201

Cited by 51 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 8 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As Abraham (2010, p. 214) argued, the nachnis do not have any rights in the domestic life of the rasik; nor does the domestic space bring a sense of agency or security. As Agarwal (1995) and Rao (2018) discussed in detail about the women having less control over land and property, they do not have access to the rasik’s property.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ki sambandha hoibe takhon he?: Locating Nachnis in the Societal Margins of Kinship in Rural Bengal

Sengupta

Narasimhan

2020

Indian Journal of Gender Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Na_chni na_ch, a dance form of West Bengal, is going through a difficult time in its 500-year history. The woman dancer, who is known as a nachni, performs, often at night, along with her male partner, or rasik. Her life is intricately tied with that of her rasik, which includes her status as a woman performer at public events and the observance of proper rituals upon her death. Caught in a web of exploitation, the nachni essentially has no ‘kin’. Following the work by Inden and Nicholas on Bengali kinship and its categories and meanings within Bengali culture, this article looks at the amorphous pattern of kinship for the marginalized, with a special focus on the daily lives of nachnis. It explores the networks on the margins of kinship in which women performers of this crisis-ridden folk-art form survive.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ki sambandha hoibe takhon he?: Locating Nachnis in the Societal Margins of Kinship in Rural Bengal

Sengupta

Narasimhan

2020

Indian Journal of Gender Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Doran's and Raja's (2015) insightful analysis on open defection in India illustrate how the notion of private and public is culturally and materially defined, and the risk women bodies entail when they attend to a private need in the so-called public space in the dark. Similar enmeshment between public and private spaces can be found in the everyday family life of married Indian women in which the boundary is mediated by the bodily practices of veiling (Abraham 2010). Therefore, the private cannot be treated strictly as 'indoors', female and safe, and the public as 'outdoors', male and dangerous.…”

Section: The Body As Both Locus and Boundary Of Private And Public Lifementioning

confidence: 85%

“…Teashops are those neither public, nor private zones, so prominent in the literature on modernity and public life, which form a key aspect of men's everyday geographies in India. Several literatures suggest the extent to which public spaces in India are gendered through violence, abuse, discrimination, castigation, stigmatisation, and exclusion (Abraham 2010;Bhattacharya 2015;Chakraborty 2009;Parikh 2018;Phadke 2013). From our conversations with Anushka and significant others in our fieldwork we learnt that, outsiders, after morning/evening walks and other sports/recreational activities on the campus, mostly use the hut-type teashop that she referred to.…”

Section: Encountering the Male Gaze In A Public Spacementioning

confidence: 99%

Tracing Indian girls’ embodied orientations towards public life

Aruldoss

Nolas

2019

Gender, Place & Culture

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Contemporary figurations of the 'the Indian Woman' over recent years have been heavily influenced by national and international media coverage focused on high profile, gruesome and brutal cases of rape and sexual assault of women in public. The suffering involved in such cases notwithstanding, we argue that investment in such representations runs the risk of limiting our understanding of the varied experiences of female bodies in public life. Most significantly, the bodies of younger girls and how they relate to public life is mostly assumed rather than studied. Drawing on a sub-sample of ethnographies of younger children aged 6-8 living in the city of Hyderabad, India and employing the phenomenological concept of 'orientation', the article explores young girls' everyday embodied orientation towards public life, with an intersectional framework. The paper considers three case studies from different spatial/cultural contexts and the empirical material is organised around the themes of the male gaze in a public space, orienting bodies in a schooled space, and the lived body in a domestic space.

show abstract

“…For married women, purdah typically involves covering the face and head with the sari cloth in the presence of men (in public) and in-laws (at home), and even staying behind a wall or door in the presence of in-laws. Where movement outside home is unavoidable, women should show signs of purpose (such as carrying shopping bags) and symbols of marital status in their dress [ 23 , 24 ]. Phadke [ 24 ] and Still [ 25 ] note that calls for greater orthodoxy and focus on female ‘honour’ among both major faiths have emerged over the past two decades, reinforcing constraints on movement at the very time female education and employment opportunities have increased.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Documenting a long-term development model in the slums of Delhi

Morrow

Armstrong

Dayal

et al. 2016

BMC Int Health Hum Rights

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundAchieving development outcomes requires the inclusion of marginalised populations that have the least opportunity to participate in and benefit from development. Slum dwellers often see little of the ‘urban advantage’, suffering more from infectious diseases, increasing food costs, poor access to education and health care, inadequate water and sanitation, and informal employment. A recent Cochrane Review of the impact of slum upgrading strategies found a dearth of unbiased studies, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions. The Review calls for greater use of process data, and qualitative alongside quantitative methods of evaluation. India is a lower middle income nation with large gender disparities and around 65 million slum inhabitants. The Asha Community Health and Development Society, a non-governmental organisation based in Delhi, has delivered a multi-sectoral program across 71 slums since 1988. This article reports on a mixed-method study to document measureable health and social impacts, along with Asha’s ethos and processes.MethodsSeveral observational visits were made to 12 Asha slums where informal discussions were had with staff and residents (n = 50). Asha data records were analysed for change over time (and differences with greater Delhi) in selected indicators (maternal-child health, education, child sex ratio) using descriptive statistics. 34 semi-structured individual/small group interviews and 14 focus group discussions were held with staff, residents, volunteers, elected officials, civil servants, bankers, diplomats, school principals, slumlords and loan recipients (n = 147).ResultsKey indicators of health and social equity improved over time and compared favourably with those for greater Delhi. The Asha model emphasises rights, responsibilities, equity and non-violence. It employs strategies characterised by long-term involvement, systematic protocols and monitoring, development of civil society (especially women’s and children’s groups) to advocate for rights under the law, and links with foreign volunteers and fund-raisers. Stakeholders agreed that changes in community norms and living conditions were at least partly attributable to the Asha model.ConclusionsWhile lacking a control group or complete baseline data, evidence suggested substantial improvements in slum conditions and social equity. The Asha model offers some lessons for slum (and broader) development.

show abstract

Veiling and the Production of Gender and Space in a Town in North India

Cited by 51 publications

References 8 publications

Ki sambandha hoibe takhon he?: Locating Nachnis in the Societal Margins of Kinship in Rural Bengal

Ki sambandha hoibe takhon he?: Locating Nachnis in the Societal Margins of Kinship in Rural Bengal

Tracing Indian girls’ embodied orientations towards public life

Documenting a long-term development model in the slums of Delhi

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About