Negotiating Bengali Social Statuses Across Time and Territories Mayurakshi Chaudhuri [email protected]
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Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 1-14-2014 Gender In Motion: Negotiating Bengali Social Statuses Across Time and Territories Mayurakshi Chaudhuri [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the Gender and Sexuality Commons, Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Chaudhuri, Mayurakshi, "Gender In Motion: Negotiating Bengali Social Statuses Across Time and Territories" (2014). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1251. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1251 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida GENDER IN MOTION: NEGOTIATING BENGALI SOCIAL STATUSES ACROSS TIME AND TERRITORIES A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in GLOBAL AND SOCIOCULTURAL STUDIES by Mayurakshi Chaudhuri 2014 To: Dean Kenneth G. Furton College of Arts and Sciences This dissertation, written by Mayurakshi Chaudhuri, and entitled Gender In Motion: Negotiating Bengali Social Statuses Across Time And Territories, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this dissertation and recommend that it be approved. _______________________________________ Vrushali Patil _______________________________________ Patricia Price _______________________________________ Ferial Maya Boutaghou _______________________________________ Nathan Katz _______________________________________ Sarah J. Mahler, Major Professor Date of Defense: January 14, 2014 The dissertation of Mayurakshi Chaudhuri is approved. _______________________________________ Dean Kenneth G. Furton College of Arts and Sciences _______________________________________ Dean Lakshmi N. Reddi University Graduate School Florida International University, 2014 ii DEDICATION To my grandparents iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I could not have come through this process successfully without the encouragement, support, and love of many people. First, I thank my major professor and my dissertation committee. Professor Sarah Mahler, my major professor, advisor, and mentor, provided me with every kind of intellectual, professional, psychological, and moral support possible during the dissertation process. Her diligence, tenacity, and belief in me instilled the determination that I needed to achieve this goal. Her invaluable counsel, constructive criticisms and the purple pen, and unending patience, have all helped me become a critical thinker, an effective educator, and overall, a better scholar. I continue to be indebted to her for her generosity as my primary mentor in my academic career. Other committee members have also been there to generously offer their help and expert advice. Professor Vrushali Patil shared my regional interest, constantly encouraged me to exercise my critical feminist eye in exploring my research, and provided important feedback on my drafts. Professor Patricia Price encouraged my interest in ethnographic research. Professor Maya Boutaghou shared interest in my research population’s history and cultural representation, and her expert advice and feedback have helped me chisel my research argument better. Professor Nathan Katz provided helpful and expert advice on my research population’s historical and contemporary dynamics. I have been fortunate to have strong funding for this dissertation. The Trans- Atlantic Summer Institute (TASI) in European Studies Fellowship, funded by the Center for German and European Studies at the University of Minnesota, and additionally funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), at the University of iv Minnesota in 2010, provided me with important foundations for conducting my pilot research. The Morris and Anita Broad Research Fellowship and Travel Grant funded by the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) provided me with a scholarship that supported my travel to India for fieldwork in 2011. The FIU Dissertation Evidence Acquisition (DEA) Fellowship (2011-2012) provided me with a fellowship to conduct fieldwork as well as support myself during that process. Throughout my tenure as a graduate student in FIU, the Department of Global and Sociocultural Studies (GSS) has continuously supported me with teaching assistantships as I completed this dissertation. I specially thank my graduate program directors, Laura Ogden and Guillermo Grenier, and the department’s Associate Chair, Juliet Erazo, for making sure that I have flow of funds especially during the writing stage. I have benefitted from the reception and discussion of my work at several conferences and workshops that I have attended while conducting this research. I specially acknowledge the wonderful and critical feedback that I had from several intellectual interlocutors and scholars such as historian Donna Gabaccia and sociologist Mirijana Morokvasic at the TASI workshop in 2010, and from anthropologists Nina Glick Schiller, Karen Richman, Eugenia Georges, and Denise Brennan, at the American Anthropological Association meetings in Chicago, IL, in Nov, 2013. I thank my peer, Viola Thimm, for sharing the research platform with me and for motivating me in this journey. I am grateful to all my interviewees at all the locations I have conducted research for this dissertation. When I first mentioned to everyone that I was working on a project on family relations and marriage, I was amazed at the number of people who v spontaneously came forward and expressed keenest interests in participating in the project. They came forward with their views, arguments, and tangible assets such as marriage albums, photographs, memorabilia, and most importantly, their precious time in the midst of their very busy schedules. They have generously offered me with their time and entrusted me with their stories and perspectives. This research would have been impossible without their insights, beliefs, struggles, and accomplishments, which lie at the heart of this dissertation. Throughout this journey, a network of friends, old and new, kept me sane, focused, and connected. To my friends, Basabdatta, Trishita, Shreemoyee, Rimi, Sudeshna, and Sourav , for their unconditional love and support, for their deep friendship and intellectual support, for making me rethink and unthink some deeply rooted but unquestioned notions about family, marriage and migration. I am also deeply thankful to my friends in graduate school for always supporting my research endeavors whether in the classroom or at a conference and providing important feedback on them. Finally, I am thankful for friends like Arpit, Evan, Krysty, Rajib, Sumit, and Zach for constantly reminding me that there is life outside the graduate school and making sure I live that life too! None of these would have been possible without the love and support of my own family. To my wonderful parents, Minakshi and Sibadatta, for always believing in me and letting me be who I am. Chhotoma and Babai’s unending trust in me and believing that I am capable of achieving anything provided that I am ready to commit myself to it have been my guiding pillars. They have given me the most precious gift parents can gift: the gift of support and experience. They have been and continue to be my two strongest vi pillars. I am thankful to my brother, Somu, for being such a lovely soul and perhaps my strongest critic. Somu always understands me -- even when I do not say anything. I thank the core of my Calcutta household support, especially to Papapu, Kanon di, and Bhanu da, - wherever you are, thank you for all your love. I am thankful to have Himadri as my husband and confidant, especially during this journey. His inexhaustible patience, immaculate spirit, and unconditional love and support have been indispensable for me throughout this process. Thank you, Himadri, for just being who you are, and for each wonderful day. I am thankful to my in-laws, Pranati and Usha Ranjan, for their love and support during this journey. Whether showering me with saris and jewelry or spending endless hours of enriching, wonderful discussions on a myriad of topics ranging from World literature, Indian History, to contemporary world politics, they have gifted me with some wonderful moments. I look forward to many more of such great moments in the future. To my brother-in-law, Bob, thank you for being a great friend. Although inspired by readings in graduate seminars in graduate school, the fundamental foundations of family and marriage have been instilled in me long, long before, by some very special people in my life - my grandparents. My grandparents have taught me over the years what it takes to build a family and, more importantly, how to maintain it through thick and thin even though family members will not agree with each other every day. Being their only granddaughter in my generation in the family, I have been in the receiving end of ultimate love, care, pampering, and showering of blessings and warm wishes from them. All their life, my grandparents have been the pillars of our family. I am assured with each passing day that they particularly