Invented Identities: The Interplay of Gender, Religion and Politics in India

“This book examines the construction of gender identities in different socio-religious contexts in the Indian subcontinent. It explores gender identities across many dimensions, regions and historical periods, touching upon, among others, the Vedas, spirit possession, caste and untouchability, religious and folk narratives, and communal violence. The essays in this volume variously examine processes by which gender identity is formalized and ritualized through media such as language, performance, narrative and politics. The authors, employing different methodologies, attempt to move beyond a focus on gender roles, particularly those of women, and examine the more complex notion of gender identity as it relates to cultural and religious ideas about sexuality. In examining the concept of gender in different Indian contexts, this volume demonstrates that the study of gender is also about the study of power and that religious, cultural and political meanings are intertwined with understandings of gender dynamics. The contributors show the fluidity of gender values in India, and also how the ascription of positive and negative values within systems of power and prestige lead to gender discrimination and asymmetry. This book provides a better understanding of how gender identities have been invented and valued in different historical, religious and regional contexts in India. With contributions from renowned scholars of South Asia, it is compulsory reading for those interested in gender, sociology, history and Indology.”