Social Stratification in a Punjabi Village of Pakistan: the Dynamics Between Caste, Gender, and Violence
Social Stratification in a Punjabi Village of Pakistan: The Dynamics between Caste, Gender, and Violence Ahmed Usman Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of Sociology and Social Policy September 2011 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis maybe published without proper acknowledgement Acknowledgements A heartfelt thank-you to; the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan and University of the Punjab Lahore Pakistan for funding this study, my supervisors Dr. Paul Bagguley and Dr. Yasmin Hussain, friends, mentors, loved ones, family, research team and most importantly the people who participated in this study. 11 Abstract This thesis looks at the system of social stratification in Punjabi villages of Pakistan using caste as a theoretical tool and develops an analysis ofthe dynamics between caste, gender, and violence. The focus of the research is the hierarchical arrangement of two major caste based status groups in Punjabi villages i.e. landowning castes, Zamindars, and service providing castes, Kammis, their asymmetrical social interactions in the village setting, and its changing patterns. The study draws on the theory of intersectionality to explore the social relations of dominance and resistance in the paradigm of caste and gender as an interconnected system of social oppression and structural violence. It is a case study comparative research and is conducted in two villages of Punjab province in Pakistan, each village as a unit of analysis; one in the arid and other in the irrigated agricultural zone.
[Show full text]