Loading...
Desires under Reform: Contemporary Reconfigurations of Family, Marriage, Love and Gendering in a transnational South Indian Matrilineal Muslim community
I trace here some connections between contemporary reconfigurations of gendering, family and marriage in a matrilineal Muslim south Indian community (Kerala Koyas). I argue that shifts from joint matrifocal households to small neo-patriarchal households are underscored by market reforms, migration p...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Printed Book |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://10.26.1.76/ks/005429.pdf |
| Summary: | I trace here some connections between contemporary reconfigurations of gendering, family and
marriage in a matrilineal Muslim south Indian community (Kerala Koyas). I argue that shifts
from joint matrifocal households to small neo-patriarchal households are underscored by market
reforms, migration processes, Islamic reformism, and by modernist processes which work
towards purging queer forms of affect and gender in favour of impeccably gendered heterosexual
subjectivities. But I also note considerable ambivalence and tension within these moves, and
argue against any teleological mappings of such moves which would - firstly - take for granted
and - then - celebrate a shift from Indian ‘arranged marriage’ towards a ‘pure relationship’,
founded on romantic and passionate love. Here, I engage with recent academic discussions of
Western marriage, Indian middle class and Indian subaltern marriages, and conclude that many
commonly drawn oppositions (‘love’ versus ‘arranged’, ‘companionate’ versus ‘ economic-
pragmatic’, ‘till death us do part’ versus ‘easy divorce’) are representational fictions requiring
sharp critique. I also address the question of moral panic around female centred households and proffer feminist and queer critiques. Finally, I build upon work by Saba Mahmood and others
who are urging Western academics to examine their own production as liberal subjects. |
|---|