Experience and Identity: A Historical Account of Class, Caste, and Gender

Women, for generations, have worked in the cashew factories of the South Indian State of Kerala from 1930 to the present. As a group, they have challenged the stereotypical view of the “Third World” women by organizing into unions, working in the formal sector, and becoming literate. These women have been a major part of the working class in Kerala, and by the end of the twentieth century, they numbered somewhere around 200,000. The historical background for this interdisciplinary study has...