Journal of Psychology & Psychotherapy
Open Access
ISSN: 2161-0487
+44 1478 350008
ISSN: 2161-0487
+44 1478 350008
Dhiraj Kumar
Ambedkar University Delhi, India
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Psychol Psychother
This paper seeks to present a part of an ongoing action-research at the Kanker district of Chhattisgarh state, India. The paper asks how the caste system regulates a woman�??s life-world in marriages in an Adivasi village. I am working with six couples who have married outside their caste. The samaj (the Adivasi village�??s society) charges a fine on couples who have married outside their caste however the amount charged depends on the caste of the woman. Additionally if the caste of the woman is lower in the hierarchy than that of the husband then she has to face caste discrimination (untouchability, humiliation, etc.) from the husband�??s family. She is not accepted either by the husband�??s family or the samaj. The same does not hold true if the caste of the woman is higher in the hierarchy than that of the husband. The child however is accepted in both cases. It is generally accepted that caste society does not operate in Adivasi villages. By using literature on humiliation studies as well as that on intersectionality of gender and caste I hope to explore this difference in inter-caste marriages, and attempt to show how, even in an Adivasi context, it is the regulation of the rural lower caste woman�??s life-world that is at the core of the reproduction of hierarchy in the samaj.