Between Strategies and Contingencies: Boundaries Between Subaltern Women in Rural North India

Abstract

S With the spread of the global economy and capitalism in India, the local economy has been incorporated into national and globalized markets, and disparities have rapidly expanded between those who have access to opportunities to gain economic capital and those who have experienced the loss of economic resources, and therefore become marginalized. This has also produced divisions within marginalized groups between those who have been able to bring about changes in their consumption behavior and lifestyle through welfare and development programs, and those who have been left behind, without access to such opportunities. In this study, using ethnographical data regarding women of a labor caste in Uttar Pradesh, I explore how subaltern women have been affected by the capitalist economy and how they have formed boundaries between themselves in the process of becoming involved in welfare programs. I will argue that the ‘power’ of women empowered by women’s welfare programs is not directed against the socio-political institutions that oppress them, but against those who are left behind within the welfare program. I will also argue that anthropologists need to understand the subjects of women’s empowerment in welfare programs to ensure that the existence of the left-behind is not overlooked.