Listen to the Heron's Words: Reimagining Gender and Kinship in North IndiaIn many South Asian oral traditions, herons are viewed as duplicitous and conniving. These traditions tend also to view women as fragmented identities, dangerously split between virtue and virtuosity, between loyalties to their own families and those of their husbands. In women's songs, however, symbolic herons speak, telling of alternative moral perspectives shaped by women. The heron's words—and women's expressive genres more generally—criticize pervasive North Indian ideologies of gender and kinship that place women in subordinate positions. By inviting readers to "listen to the heron's words," the authors convey this shift in moral perspective and suggest that these spoken truths are compelling and consequential for the women in North India. The songs and narratives bear witness to a provocative cultural dissonance embedded in women's speech. This book reveals the power of these critical commentaries and the fluid and permeable boundaries between spoken words and the lives of ordinary village women. |
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... Perspectives on Patriliny and Women's Ties to Natal Kin ( GGR ) 4. On the Uses of Subversion : Redefining Conjugality ( GGR ) 5. Devotional Power or Dangerous Magic ? The Jungli Rani's Case ( AGG ) 6. Purdah Is As Purdah's Kept : A ...
... Perspectives on Patriliny and Women's Ties to Natal Kin ( GGR ) 4. On the Uses of Subversion : Redefining Conjugality ( GGR ) 5. Devotional Power or Dangerous Magic ? The Jungli Rani's Case ( AGG ) 6. Purdah Is As Purdah's Kept : A ...
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A. K. Ramanujan ammā anthropological Asikaur auspicious bāgon men jhuk bahū banā bhakti birth Brahman bride Bridegroom-prince brother conjugal village context courtyard cultural dancing songs daughter Delhi discourse dominant edited expressive genres festival folklore gālīs Ganeshji gender Ghatiyali ghunghat girl goddess groom Gujar hān Hindi Hindu Holi husband husband's sister ideology images indar rājā bāgon Indar Raja comes jhuk rahe ji jungli rani Kakar keśyā king lives Mahita male marriage married merī moral mother mujhe natal home natal kin natal village North Indian northern India one's oral traditions Pahansu and Hathchoya patrilineal performed perspective pihar prestations purdah queen Raheja Rajasthan Rajput Ramayana rani's relations relationship resistance ritual sāsū Shobhag Kanvar sing Singh Sita Sitala social South Asian speak split story Subaltern Subaltern Studies sung tions University Press Uttar Pradesh Vatuk veil verses voices wedding wives woman women's songs words worship wrap