Narrating Love and Violence: Women Contesting Caste, Tribe, and State in Lahaul, India, by Himika Bhattacharya

Abstract

In this book, Himika Bhattacharya discusses the experiences of women living in the region of Lahaul, Himachal Pradesh. Using multiple sources such as storytelling, autobiography, poetry etc, the book documents oral narratives about love, sexuality and the violence committed against women in the region. It uses ethnographic co-performance as a method to open up new possibilities for exploring the troubled lifeworld of these women within the polyandrous society of Lahaul. The book documents the voices of Adivasi Dalit women living at the intersection of caste and tribe in the region.1 Taking into account women’s narratives around gendered violence perpetuated by a host of actors, the book offers fresh insights into women’s lifeworlds in Lahaul. Drawing inspiration from Dalit feminism, the book weaves a complex yet compelling narrative that goes beyond the standard victim-agent framework. Using co-performance and dialogic exchange as her method, the author unearths subjective worldviews of women to document their quotidian experiences of discrimination. Within the space of six chapters, the book provides deep insights into the vulnerabilities of women in the region. It discusses the discursive tropes that represent women as both agents of the modern democratic state as well as victims of tribal cultural practices. According to