Agenda

16 Nov 2020 16:30

Courting Desire. Litigating for Love in North India

Virtual Book Discussion

Virtual Book Discussion
Courting Desire. Litigating for Love in North India
by Rama Srinivasan, Marie Curie Postdoc Fellow
Rutgers University Press

16 November 2020
4.30 pm (CET); 9 pm (IST); 10.30 am (EST)

Introduction and Comments:
Livia Holden (University of Padua & Paris Nanterre)

Discussants:
Jyoti Puri (Simmons University, Boston) Ravinder Kaur (University of Copenhagen)

Register here to attend the discussion.

Inquiries into marital patterns can serve as an effective lens to analyze social structures and material cultures not only on the question of sexuality, but also on the nature of a private citizen's engagement with state and law. Through ethnographic research in courtrooms, community, and kinship spaces, the author outlines the transformations in material culture and political economy that have led to renewed negotiations on the institution of marriage in North India, especially in legal spaces. Tracing organically evolving notions of sexual consent and legal subjectivity, Courting Desire underlines how non-normative decisions regarding marriage become possible in a region otherwise known for high instances of honor killings and rigid kinship structures. Aspirations for consensual relationships have led to a tentative attempt to forge relationships that are non-normative but grudgingly approved after state intervention. The book traces this nascent and under-explored trend in the North Indian landscape.

About the Author:
Rama Srinivasan holds a Ph.D in Anthropology from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island and currently pens articles on gender and sexuality, politics, cinema and popular culture, law and society, and immigration and diaspora issues. She lives in Frankfurt, Germany.

Praise for the Book:
“Courting Desire offers an unusual mix of ethnographic perspectives, exploring the pursuit of love and the critical role played by legal institutions in changing times. Srinivasan presents a rich canvas of messy human realities, while making a persuasive argument for the stable yet transformative value of law.”
-Ann Grodzins Gold, author of Listening to the Heron's Words: Reimaging Gender and Kinship in North India

This event is hosted by the EURO-EXPERT Network

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This event is hosted by the EURO-EXPERT Network

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