Abstracts Womens Studies

Fluid Complementarity: Translocal Marriage, House and Gender Relations in Bhil Communities in Rajasthan, India

by Suvi Sillanpää

This study is about translocal marriage and gender relations of the Bhil communities living in Rajasthan, India. It examines how the seasonal and circular migration of men alters gender relations and the role and status of women in terms of division of labour, decision making, social responsibilities and mobility. The study is based on five month’s fieldwork in the villages of Dungarpur district in southern Rajasthan, where rural-urban migration is prevalent. The main research methods used were semi-structured interviews and participant observation. Theoretically the study draws from the works of scholars who understand kinship, gender and space in processual terms. Janet Carsten’s idea that kinship relations are made through practices as well as McKim Marriott and Ronald Inden’s theory of Indian personhood, which suggests that Indian persons should be seen as dividuals (not individuals) formed through interpersonal contacts, are central to the this study’s approach toward understanding marriage and gender. The study also looks at the ways in which space and gender are produced through mutual processes as well as the meaning of the house to the marital relationship in the Bhil communities living in Dungarpur. The key concept of this study is gender complementarity, which defines the roles of the husband and wife in India, and usually leads to the formation of separate gendered spheres and roles. The study demonstrates how the gendered division of labour in Dungarpur is flexible and suggests that it is best understood in terms of fluid complementarity, whereby the husband and wife engage in gendered, but flexible practices to maintain their house, through which the relationship between them is maintained. Migration increases the work-load of the women who stay in the villages as they take responsibility of all the household work and increasingly of the agricultural work. They also maintain the social relationships in the village and take up tasks that used to belong to men such as going out to markets. Changes in decision-making practices vary according to whom women share their house with. The study suggests that the fluidity of the complementarity in the marital relationship in Dungarpur facilitates the flexible reorganizing of work. The increased responsibilities and mobility of women should be seen in the framework of fluid complementarity as the new practices they engage in are incorporated as part of the contributions they make to the house they share with their husbands. The house in the village is also important for belonging to the village community and being part of its reciprocal relationships, both of which are important objectives to the translocal households in Dungarpur. Tutkielma käsittelee ylirajaisisia avioliittoja sekä miesten ja naisten välisiä suhteita bhil-yhteisöissä Rajasthanissa, Intiassa. Tutkielma tarkastelee miesten työperäisen muuton vaikutuksia sukupuolirooleihin ja naisten asemaan. Tarkastelun keskiössä ovat muutokset työnjaossa, päätöksenteossa, sosiaalisten suhteiden hoitamisessa…