Gendering Caste: through a feminist lens

225 Pages·2018·2.05 MB·English

by  Uma Chakravarti

U
The continuous demand for Gendering Caste: Through a Feminist Lens M
(2003) led to this revised edition which analyses the recent socio-economic
A
and political changes that have taken place. Caste-based marriage and C GENDERING
control over women's sexuality have been crucial for the continuation of the
H
caste system in India. Thus, caste and gender are linked. Brutal reprisals
A
have followed when dalits and women have tried to challenge caste-based K CASTE
marriage and inequality which allots strict rules of conduct for women and all R
dalits. A
V
through a feminist lens
A
Maithreyi Krishnaraj, the Series Editor, highlights the author’s discussion on R
the new ways in which caste violence targets women and on the changes T
REVISED EDITION
within the family—immediate and extended—that still keep women I
subservient to caste norms. She points to the new discussion on an economy
in transition to capitalism, and persistent conflicts over religion, language,
ethnicity and other differences that relate to gender.
G
The book also includes a new ‘Afterword: Caste and Gender in the New E
Millennium’, which provides an updated discussion on the Scheduled Castes
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and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 (known in short as
Prevention of Atrocities Act: POA). Erudite, yet accessible, this book enables D
the reader to understand the ramifications of caste today.
E
R
I
Uma Chakravarti is a feminist historian who taught at N
Miranda House, University of Delhi, from where she took
early retirement in 1998. G

C UMA CHAKRAVARTI
A
S
SERIES EDITOR: Maithreyi Krishnaraj, Senior Honorary Fellow, Research Centre
for Women’s Studies, SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai. T
E
Cover Image: ‘Chameleons’ by Prem Chowdhry
Cover Art Credit: Vidushi Kedia
` 495
ISBN 978-93-81345-44-3
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GENDERING
CASTE
Also in the series
Gender
V. Geetha
Patriarchy
V. Geetha
Interrogating Motherhood
Jasodhara Bagchi
T F
heorizing eminism
Series Editor Maithreyi Krishnaraj
GENDERING
CASTE
through a feminist lens
REVISED EDITION
UMA CHAKRAVARTI
Copyright © Uma Chakravarti, 2018
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage
or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
First published in 2018 by
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Contents
A Note from the SerieS editor
Maithreyi Krishnaraj ix
AckNowledgemeNtS xv
Prologue 1
1 Understanding Caste 6
2 The Axis of Gender Stratification in India 24
3 Caste, Class and Gender: The Historical
Roots of Brahmanical Patriarchy 36
4 The Formation of Patriarchy and
the Subordination of Women 63
5 The Diversity of Patriarchal Practices 77
6 Critiques of Caste and Gender Stratification 88
7 Pre-Colonial Structures of Caste and Gender:
An Eighteenth-Century Example 100
8 Caste in the Colonial Period 108
9 Caste and Gender in Contemporary India 132