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Producing a Rationale for Dowry? Gender in the Negotiation of Exchange at Marriage in Kerala, South India
Apparently against the grain of evidence of the expanding dimensions of dowry in India, the matrilineal castes in northern Kerala (India) rejected dowry transactions and considered them demeaning. They resorted to dowry only in circumstances considered exceptional. Foregrounding the negative discour...
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| Format: | Printed Book |
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London
Asia Research Centre (ARC), London School of Economics & Political Science
2006
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| Online Access: | http://10.26.1.76/ks/005462.pdf |
| Summary: | Apparently against the grain of evidence of the expanding dimensions of dowry in India, the
matrilineal castes in northern Kerala (India) rejected dowry transactions and considered them
demeaning.
They resorted to dowry only in circumstances considered exceptional.
Foregrounding the negative discourse on dowry, this paper explores the ways in which gender
enters into the negotiation of exchange during match making, producing a residual category of
women for whom demands for dowry were entertained. These women were marked by a
combination of poor social, economic and normative gender attributes, which restricted their
access to patriarchal norms of femininity and relegated them to the margins of the marriage
market. Their experience exposed the underbelly of ‘respectability’ in the region. The pressure
to bring women under conjugal patronage compromised reciprocity in match making and
generated a ‘practical’ rationale for dowry. Our analysis suggests that if it is to address dowry
seriously, social policy in India must combat the centrality accorded to conjugality in the social
construction of women’s interests and identity. |
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| Item Description: | Asia Research Centre Working Paper 16 |