Quest for Identity
Gender, Land and Migration in Contemporary Jharkhand

Offers an ethnographic analysis of Adivasi social dynamics – the economic trajectories, ecological environment and gender relations

Nitya Rao (Author)

9781009358002, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 27 June 2024

380 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm, 0.658 kg

This book lays bare the reality of being an Adivasi in India today and beyond that a woman in a globalising world, building commonalities with the author's own personal experiences and life trajectory. The lived experiences of Santal women and men are unfolded here along with the political and economic changes after Jharkhand State was created. Using ethnographic methods, it weaves a multi-dimensional and multi-relational mosaic of the lives and livelihoods, the struggles for resources, gender identities and new narratives of citizenship. Ordinary peoples' everyday struggles for survival with dignity and respect form the core of the analyses. Rich in field insights, the gender lens adopted gives a fresh perspective to understanding issues of land and labour, indigenous identity, political aspirations and state relations. It contributes significantly to the slim literature on Adivasi development in Jharkhand and fills a gap in knowledge on gender relations.

1. Introduction
2. Kinship Matters: Women's Land Claims in the Santal Parganas, Jharkhand, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
3. Questioning Women's Solidarity: The Case of Land Rights, Santal Parganas, Jharkhand, India. 4. Custom and the Courts: Ensuring Women's Rights to Land, Jharkhand, India
5. Respect, status and domestic work: Female migrants at home and work
6. Migration, representations and social relations: Experiences of Jharkhand Labour to Western Uttar Pradesh
7. Aspiring for distinction: Gendered educational choices in an Indian village
8. Displacing Gender from Development: A View from the Santal Parganas
9. Enhancing women's mobility in a forest economy: Transport and Gender Relations in the Santal Parganas, Jharkhand
10. Enhancing Women's Mobility in a Forest Economy: Transport and Gender Relations in the Santal Parganas, Jharkhand
11. Jharkhand Vision 2010: Chasing Mirages
12. Agricultural Research and Extension in India: Changing Ideologies and Practice
13.Conflicts and contradictions: Land Laws in the Santhal Parganas
14. Looking Ahead: Policy Implications for Equitable Development.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP]