Quest for Identity: Gender, Land and Migration in Contemporary Jharkhand

This book lays bare the reality of being an Adivasi in India today and beyond that a woman in a globalising world, building commonalities with the author's own personal experiences and life trajectory. The lived experiences of Santal women and men are unfolded here along with the political and economic changes after Jharkhand State was created. Using ethnographic methods, it weaves a multi-dimensional and multi-relational mosaic of the lives and livelihoods, the struggles for resources, gender identities and new narratives of citizenship. Ordinary peoples' everyday struggles for survival with dignity and respect form the core of the analyses. Rich in field insights, the gender lens adopted gives a fresh perspective to understanding issues of land and labour, indigenous identity, political aspirations and state relations. It contributes significantly to the slim literature on Adivasi development in Jharkhand and fills a gap in knowledge on gender relations.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction; 2. Kinship Matters: Women's Land Claims in the Santal Parganas, Jharkhand, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute; 3. Questioning Women's Solidarity: The Case of Land Rights, Santal Parganas, Jharkhand, India. 4. Custom and the Courts: Ensuring Women's Rights to Land, Jharkhand, India; 5. Respect, status and domestic work: Female migrants at home and work; 6. Migration, representations and social relations: Experiences of Jharkhand Labour to Western Uttar Pradesh; 7. Aspiring for distinction: Gendered educational choices in an Indian village; 8. Displacing Gender from Development: A View from the Santal Parganas; 9. Enhancing women's mobility in a forest economy: Transport and Gender Relations in the Santal Parganas, Jharkhand; 10. Enhancing Women's Mobility in a Forest Economy: Transport and Gender Relations in the Santal Parganas, Jharkhand; 11. Jharkhand Vision 2010: Chasing Mirages; 12. Agricultural Research and Extension in India: Changing Ideologies and Practice; 13.Conflicts and contradictions: Land Laws in the Santhal Parganas; 14. Looking Ahead: Policy Implications for Equitable Development.

About the Author :
Nitya Rao is Professor of Gender and Development at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom and Director of the Norwich Institute for Sustainable Development. Her areas of interest are women's rights and gender justice, with a particular focus on food, nutrition, health and livelihood security. She has worked with indigenous populations, confronting both climatic variability and economic precarity, to explore gendered changes in their lives, livelihoods, and wellbeing. She served on the Global Advisory Committee of the United Nations Girls Education Initiative for over a decade. She is currently a member of the Steering Group of the High-Level Panel of Experts to the Committee on World Food Security, Commissioner, EAT-Lancet 2.0 on healthy and sustainable diets and member of the Scientific Advisory Group to the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub.