Culture, Power & Agency

Bridging theoretical discussions with fieldwork, these contributions consider social change in various gendered sites: orphan girls, middle class and working class housewives, Dalit Vankars, control of fertility, divorce and domestic violence. Offering ethnographic description and analysis, these articles suggest new ways in which women challenge predominant ideologies. Tellingly, the case studies suggest there is no sharp demarcation between culture as the weapon of domination and as the weapon of the weak.