Title: Don't marry me to a plowman!
First published: 1996
Description: Popular Western images of Indian women range from the submissive bride behind her veil to the powerful, active women of Indian politics. In this lively and unique book, Patricia and Roger Jeffery present a different perspective on women's lives. Focusing on the mundane rather than the exotic, they explore the complex interplay between the power of social structures to constrain individuals and the ways women negotiate these constraints to carve out places for themselves.

Based on information collected by the authors during their research in villages in Bijnor District, western Uttar Pradesh, the volume offers eight life histories of Hindu and Muslim women. The women's life histories present a variety of class positions and domestic circumstances, illustrating many aspects of north Indian village life.

Interspersed with thematic discussions composed of dialogues, episodes, and songs, the life histories deal with topics of vital concern for women in rural north India: the birth of children, worries about dowry, arranging weddings, sexual politics in marriage, relationships with in-laws, relationships with natal kin, and widowhood.
Subjects: Case studies, Women, Social conditions, Economic conditions, Women, india, India, social conditions, Femmes, Études de cas, Conditions sociales, Conditions économiques, SOCIAL SCIENCE, Discrimination & Race Relations, Minority Studies
Places: Bijnor (District), India
LC classification: HQ1745.B55 J45 1996