On the Edge of the Auspicious

People of lower caste live throughout the villages of Nepal but havebeen noticeably absent from ethnographic accounts of the Himalayan region.Starting from the perspective of lower-caste Hindu women, Mary M. Cameronoffers a long-overdue study of artisans and farmers in western Nepal.On the Edge of the Auspicious skillfully shows the connectionsbetween caste hierarchy and gender relations leading to domestic, economic,and religious power of lower-caste women. Situating her study in the historyof land ownership and contemporary family and work relations, Cameronexplains how and why patriarchal ideology associated with high-caste familiesin Nepal does not apply to women of lower caste. Drawing on data fromwork, family, and religious domains, this ethnography goes further thanother current studies of caste hierarchy in South Asia to show the everydaymaterial and ideological dimensions of domination and lower-caste people'sresistance to them..