Women and Violence in India: Gender, Oppression and the Politics of Neoliberalism

ISBN-13: 9780755600984 / Angielski / Miękka / 2019 / 272 str.

Tamsin Bradley

Opis

India's endemic gender-based violence has received increased international scrutiny and provoked waves of domestic protest and activism. In recent years, related studies on India and South Asia have proliferated but their analyses often fail to identify why violence flourishes. Unwilling to simply accept patriarchy as the answer, Tamsin Bradley presents new research examining how different groups in India conceptualise violence against women, revealing beliefs around religion, caste and gender that render aggression socially acceptable. She also analyses the role that neoliberalism, and its corollary consumerism, play in reducing women to commodity objects for barter or exchange. Unpacking varied conservative, liberal and neoliberal ideologies active in India today, Bradley argues that they can converge unexpectedly to normalise violence against women. Due to these complex and overlapping factors, rates of violence against women in India have actually increased despite decades of feminist campaigning. This book will be crucial to those studying Indian gender politics and violence, but also presents new data and methodologies which have practical implications for researchers and policymakers worldwide.

Spis treści

Introduction Part 1: Theorising and Contextualising Violence against Women Chapter One: The Politics of Voice: Unraveling the Discourses Chapter 2: Interventions, Good (or not) Intentions and the Reality of the Backlash. Part 2: Narratives on Rape Chapter 3: “Two Feet Forward and One Back” Reflections on the Impact of the Anti-Rape Protests in India Chapter Four: The Remaking of Subalterns through Western Newspaper Narratives of Rape in India. Part 3: The Feminist Movement and its Struggles with the Right Chapter Five: The Changing Face of the Feminist Movement in India. Chapter Six: The Religious Right and Violence against Women Part 4: Harmful Cultural Practices Chapter Seven: The Persistence of Harmful Cultural Practices Chapter Eight: Dowry, Marriage and Violence Chapter Nine: Making the Invisible Visible: Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in India Conclusion: The Impact of Neoliberalism on Violence against Women