Restless Mothers and Turbulent Daughters : Situating Tribes in Gender Studies

How is gender ideology reproduced in adivasi societies? How far can gender constructions be instrumental in perpetuating women\'s subjugation and exploitation? Focusing upon Chotanagpur, now a part of the newly formed state of Jharkhand, Shashank Shekhar Sinha tries to raise questions that are of paramount concern yet are so peripheral in the existing studies on tribes and gender.

Investigating traditions, an area largely ignored by historians and social scientists, Sinha tries to show how these can influence and structure the construction and reproduction of gender identities. It is true that women were hardly positioned as equals in adivasi societies or, indeed in mainstream Indian society, but they played an important role in the traditional division of labour. Women were the cultivators, they sold produce in the markets, and they sold their labour. Later they were to play a significant role in the adivasi uprisings against colonial exploitation. Under the impact of colonialism and market capitalism, they were pushed to the margins of resulting political economics. In addition, the infiltration of caste and religious influences brought about significant shifts in traditional gender identities. Women faced three systems of discrimination: patriarchy, colonialism and capitalism, all reinforcing, and on occasions, working in tandem with each other. This book discusses how women negotiated with these complex systems, sometimes visibly, sometimes invisibly.