Love and Revolutions: Market Women and Social Change in India

by Eloise Hiebert Meneses

Overview

The market women of India are poor, female, and untouchable (Dalit), all highly stigmatized statuses. They eek out a living for themselves and their children by doing "penny capitalism." Traditionally, the Hindu cosmology of hierarchy and stasis has circumscribed women's and Dalits' lives with notions of purity and pollution. But, since the advent of nineteenth century Protestant missions, a social reform movement has challenged traditional forms of debasement and exploitation. Still, Dalit communities are responding to unprecedented political opportunities by taking a socially conservative path. They are attempting to demonstrate their value by emulating higher caste practices. One of these practices is the giving of dowry. So, market women are painfully saving large amounts of money to marry off their daughters with dowries, thereby reinforcing Hindu values.

Christianity advocates an ethic based on Jesus' two commandments, love God and love your neighbor as yourself. That ethic has influenced market women's lives more than they know through the construction of the Indian political arena. However, counter-forces are also evident in the public culture. Fundamentalist Hinduism, responding in part to the threat of global capitalism, is actively resisting these reforms and calling all Indians to a national identity that amalgamates race, language, and territory with Hinduism. In such a context, market women's conservative response to stigmatization is counterproductive to their own interests. A more revolutionary response, one based on the Christian ethic of love, would offer them unprecedented freedom and dignity. This work explores changes in the treatment of the marginalized in Indian society and relates them to contemporary global issues.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761836674
Publisher:	University Press of America
Publication date:	04/26/2007
Pages:	212
Product dimensions:	6.05(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

Eloise Hiebert Meneses is Professor of Anthropology at Eastern University in the Philadelphia area. She earned her B.A. in anthropology from the University of Washington, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of California, San Diego. Her primary scholarly interest is in the reintegration of science and faith.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Market Life
Chapter 3 Family and Social Mobility
Chapter 4 Caste and Religion
Chapter 5 Love and the Other
Chapter 6 History of Untouchability
Chapter 7 Women in Hindu Society
Chapter 8 Religion and the State
Chapter 9 Entering the Global Market
Chapter 10 Love God: Heart, Soul, and Mind
Part 11 References
Part 12 Index