Carla Risseeuw – författare

In the context of Sri Lanka this study concentrates on the taken for granted “unsaid” nature of relations between the sexes and the process by which they change imperceptibly over time. Gender relations were substantially transformed during British colonial rule, although these changes often went unrecognized by both the colonizer and the colonized. During this process of gender transformation the position of women deteriorated, not so much due to a direct move to curb their position, but more as an indirect result of an intensified struggle over resources between the more powerful (males), colonizer as well as colonized. This situation finds parallels in the status of women today. The position of women – as rural, unorganized workers – still remains unappreciated within (inter)national development planning, which obstructs their entry into a meaningful dialogue with the more powerful, although their strategies of resistance are manifold.

The concept of friendship is more easily valued than it is described: this volume brings together reflections on its meaning and practice in a variety of social and cultural settings in history and in the present time, focusing on Asia and the Western, Euro-American world. The extension of the group in which friendship is recognized, and degrees of intimacy (whether or not involving an erotic dimension) and genuine appreciation may vary widely. Friendship may simply include kinship bonds—solidarity being one of its more general characteristics. In various contexts of travelling, migration, and a dearth of offspring, friendship may take over roles of kinship, also in terms of care.