Dowry Murder: The Imperial Origins of a Cultural Crime

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A new book by Veena Talwar Oldenburg:

 

The Hindu custom of dowry has long been blamed for the murder of

wives and female infants in India.

 

In this highly provocative book, Veena Oldenburg argues that these

killings are neither about dowry nor reflective of an Indian culture

or caste system that encourages violence against women.

 

Rather, such killings can be traced directly to the influences of the

British colonial era. In the precolonial period, dowry was an

institution managed by women, for women, to enable them to establish

their status and have recourse in an emergency. As a consequence of

the massive economic and societal upheaval brought on by British

rule, womens entitlements to the precious resources obtained from

land were erased and their control of the system diminished,

ultimately resulting in a devaluing of their very lives.

 

Taking us on a journey into the colonial Punjab, Veena Oldenburg

skillfully follows the paper trail left by British bureaucrats to

indict them for interpreting these crimes against women as the

inherent defects of Hindu caste culture.

 

The British, Oldenburg claims, publicized their "civilizing mission"

and blamed the caste system in order to cover up the devastation

their own agrarian policies had wrought on the Indian countryside.

 

A forceful demystification of contemporary bride burning concludes

this remarkably original book. Deploying her own experiences and

memories and her research at a women's shelter with "dowry cases" for

almost a year in the mid-eighties, the author looks at the

contemporary violence against wives and daughters-in-law in modern

India.

 

Oldenburg seamlessly weaves the contemporary with the historical, the

personal with the political, and strips the layers of exoticism off

an ancient practice to show how an invaluable safety net was twisted

into a deadly noose. She brings us startlingly close to the worsening

treatment of modern Indian women as she challenges us to rethink

basic assumptions about womens human and economic rights.

 

Combining rigorous research with impassioned analysis and a nuanced

treatment of a complex, deeply controversial subject, this book

critiques colonialism while holding a mirror to gender discrimination

in modern India.

 

To read more or order a copy of the book:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-

/0195150724/qid=1035213550/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/104-3551021-5339900?

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