Straddling the domains of anthropology and gender studies, this unique book explores the conjunction of space and gender in the practices and discourses of femininity and sexuality. Drawing on her fieldwork, Seemanthini Niranjana demonstrates how socio-spatial considerations inform the bodily practices of women in a range of diurnal contexts. Eschewing a monographic format, the author weaves together conceptual and ethnographic narratives in order to elaborate a theory of gender and space. Niranjana maintains that there is a relative lack of theorization on the spatial basis of social life in the domains of sociology and anthropology and a reluctance to conceptualize the body more fully in gender studies. Seeking to rectify these tendencies, this book provides accounts of the domains and activities of women; describes cultural perceptions and experiences of the female body; explores gender in the ritual realm; and provides suggestions for formulating a basis for female agency within a space-body matrix. Emphasizing the confluence of the social and spatial dimensions in the constitution of femininity and women’s lives, this significant book provides an entirely fresh perspective to the understanding of gender. It focuses on the body as being central to an understanding of gender performativity and agency. No serious student of gender studies, sociology and anthropology can afford to ignore this unusual book.
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