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Modernization and Effeminization in India
Kerala Cashew Workers Since 1930
by Anna Lindberg
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214 pp., illustrated NIAS Monographs # 95 Available from NIAS Press worldwide |
• Study of what effect modernization processes in Kerala have had on gender relations.
The South Indian state of Kerala is well known for its progressive policy, high social indicators, and comparatively high women’s status. Processes of modernization, however, have had an ambiguous impact on women. This study of female cashew factory workers in Kerala combines meticulous historical investigation with anthropological research, including a wealth of in-depth interviews.
The author traces changes since the 1930s in gender relations among low-caste men and women by examining processes of modernization in the organization of work, trade union activities, and ideologies regarding marriage and family life. Her main conclusion is that, although women have obtained better absolute conditions at work and in society, the power discrepancy between low-caste men and women has increased in favour of men because low-caste women have gone through a process of effeminization; they are now seen as weaker and more dependent on men than in earlier decades.
Press news
- Jan. 24 2012
Apparently, the hot travel destinations this year are Uganda and Burma – at least according to Lonely Planet aficionados. If true, then sales of a recent NIAS Press book – listed as recommended reading in the latest edition of the Lonely Planet guide to Myanmar/Burma – might be about to explode (or maybe not, given its subject matter).
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