Abstract
This article explores the complex socialities of non-endogamous marriages beyond the moments of opposition and violence. It focuses on the post-marital phase of these relations to understand and critically engage with the ways in which families are practised, through interrogating the relevance of caste in such transgressive unions. Based on the lived experiences of Dalit women, this chapter looks at how and why people enter into non-endogamous relations and how caste manifests, ruptures and reconfigures in the everyday negotiations of their marriage. By foregrounding the narratives of Dalit women activists from Karnataka whose marriages are based on egalitarian ideologies, the paper analyses how structural inequalities of caste and gender are reproduced and challenged in their everyday practice of non-endogamous family and intimacy.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Holeya is an ex-untouchable caste, categorised under Sheduled Caste. Ganiga is an Other Backward Caste (OBC) whose members traditionally engaged in oil-pressing.
- 2.
Bhovi is a touchable caste that mainly works with stone and is categorised under SC; they are perceived as superior to Holeyas.
- 3.
Madiga is an ex-untouchable SC, mainly present in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka. They are traditionally associated with tannery and leatherwork.
- 4.
Devang is an artisan caste, traditionally engaged in weaving and textile merchandise. They are mainly present in south Indian states and are categorised under OBC.
- 5.
Lingayat was formed as a separate religion against Vedic traditions by Basavanna in twelfth-century Karnataka. It later merged into the Hindu fold and acquired non-shudhra, upper-caste status. Chikkamangaluru is a district in Karnataka, 250 km from Bengaluru.
References
Abraham, J. (2014). Contingent Caste Endogamy and Patriarchy: Lessons for Our Understanding of Caste. Economic and Political Weekly, 49(2), 56–65.
Chaudhry, S. (2018). Flexible Caste Boundaries: Cross-Regional Marriage as Mixed Marriage in Rural North India. Contemporary South Asia, 27(2), 214–228.
Chowdhry, P. (2009). Contentious Marriages, Eloping Couples: Gender, Caste, and Patriarchy in Northern India. Oxford University Press.
Frankenberg, R. (1999). White Women, Race Matters: The Social Construction of Whiteness. University of Minnesota.
Fruzzetti, L. (2013). When Marriages Go Astray: Choices Made, Choices Challenged. Orient BlackSwan Pvt Ltd.
Gallo, E. (2017). The Fall of Gods: Memory, Kinship, and Middle Classes in South India. Oxford University Press.
Geetha, V. (2009). Bereft of Being: The Humiliations of Untouchability. In G. Guru (Ed.), Humiliation: Claims and Context (pp. 95–107). Oxford University Press.
Gorringe, H. (2010). Beyond ‘Dull and Sterile Routines’? Dalits Organizing for Social Change in Tamil Nadu. Cultural Dynamics, 22(2), 105–119.
Gorringe, H. (2018). Afterword: Gendering Caste: Honor, Patriarchy and Violence. South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal [online], 19. Retrieved January 17, 2022, from http://journals.openedition.org/samaj/4685; https://doi.org/10.4000/samaj.4685
Grover, S. (2017). Marriage, Love, Caste, and Kinship Support. Social Science Press.
Gupta, C. (2010). Feminine, Criminal or Manly? Imaging Dalit Masculinities in Colonial North India. The Indian Economic and Social History Review, 47(3), 309–342.
Gupte, M. (2013). The Concept of Honour: Caste Ideology and Patriarchy in Rural Maharashtra. Economic and Political Weekly, 48(18), 72–81.
Guru, G. (2009). Rejection of Rejection: Foregrounding Self-Respect. In G. Guru (Ed.), Humiliation: Claims and Context (pp. 209–225). Oxford University Press.
Hirsch, J. S., & Wardlow, H. (2006). Modern Loves: The Anthropology of Romantic Courtship and Companionate Marriage. University of Michigan Press.
Jamieson, L. (2011). Intimacy as a Concept: Explaining Social Change in the context of Globalisation or Another Form of Ethnocentricism? Sociological Research Online, 16(4), 15. Retrieved May 14, 2022, from www.socresonline.org.uk/16/4/15.html
Kaur, R. (2004). Across-Region Marriages: Poverty, Female Migration and the Sex Ratio. Economic and Political Weekly, 39(25), 70–78.
Kishwar, M. (1994). Love and Marriage. Manushi, 80, (Jan–Feb), 11–19.
Kukreja, R. (2018). Caste and Cross-Region Marriages in Haryana, India: Experience of Dalit Cross-Region Brides in Jat Households. Modern Asian Studies, 52(2), 492–531.
Mishra, P. (2013). Sex Ratios, Cross-Region Marriages and the Challenge to Caste Endogamy in Haryana. Economic and Political Weekly, 48(35), 70–78.
Mody, P. (2008). The Intimate State: Love-Marriage and the Law in Delhi. Routledge.
Natrajan, B. (2011). The Culturalization of Caste in India: Identity and Inequality in a Multicultural Age. Routledge.
Parekh, B. (2009). Logic of Humiliation. In G. Guru (Ed.), Humiliation: Claims and Context (pp. 23–40). Oxford University Press.
Reddy, J. (2006). The Bonds of Love: Companionate Marriage and the Desire for Intimacy Among Hijras in Hyderabad, India. In J. S. Hirsch & H. Wardlow (Eds.), Modern Loves: The Anthropology of Romantic Courtship and Companionate Marriage (pp. 174–192). University of Michigan Press.
Rowena, J. (2012). Features. Retrieved from Round Table India. Retrieved 6 January 2022, from http://roundtableindia.co.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5283:the-dirt-in-the-dirty-picture-caste-gender-and-silk-smitha&catid=119&Itemid=132
Tamalapakula, S. (2019). The Politics of Inter-Caste Marriages Among Dalits in India: The Personal as Political. Asian Survey, 59(2), 315–336.
Twamley, K. (2012). Gender Relations Among Indian Couples in the UK and India: Ideals of Equality and Realities of Inequality. Sociological Research Online, 17(4), 5.
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Hugo Gorringe and Dhaneswar Bhoi for organising the workshop ‘Caste in Everyday Life’ and for providing valuable comments on the earlier draft of this chapter. I am also thankful to Prof. Ramesh Bairy, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, for his detailed comments and discussion. Thanks to Swapnil Gedam, Firdaus Soni, Yashwant Zagade, other participants of the workshop and the anonymous reviewer for their constructive comments.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Disha, K.R. (2023). Practising Family, Intimacy and Caste: Narratives of Dalit Women in Non-endogamous Marriages. In: Bhoi, D., Gorringe, H. (eds) Caste in Everyday Life. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30655-6_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30655-6_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-30654-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-30655-6
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)