“Why Is She Smiling?”: Circular Migration and Women’s Empowerment in Rural Rajasthan, India
Abstract
Migration is indispensable for many families in the poorest sections of rural India.
In Rajasthan, migration is largely pursued by men, while women maintain the home in
the village. Based on my ethnographic research in rural villages in Udaipur District,
Rajasthan, my thesis explores life in rural villages and particularly the experiences
of women whose husbands migrate for work. My initial research questions included:
What changes does migration bring? What stays the same? What does it mean for women
to be left behind by migration? Do the social freedoms of women differ while their
husbands are away? Contrary to what I initially expected, the absence of men does
not produce many freedoms for women. The patriarchy in India is not attached to
the male migrant and able to travel with him. In this paper, I argue that by conceptualizing
migration through movement alone, we are doing a huge disservice to the people and
places that are immobile, yet are deeply influenced by the movement of other people
and ideas.
Type
Honors thesisDepartment
Cultural AnthropologyPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/8603Citation
Daniels, Nicole (2014). “Why Is She Smiling?”: Circular Migration and Women’s Empowerment in Rural Rajasthan,
India. Honors thesis, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/8603.Collections
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