Ms. Lovitoli Jimo on 'The principles of Sumi marriages'
Oral Traditions: Continuity and Transformations, Northeast India and Southeast Asia, Shillong (1st-4th February, 2016);Conference
Description
Ms. Lovitoli Jimo’s presentation attempted to look at the idea of exchange, the principles on which Sumi marriages are arranged, and the gendered aspects of which are missing in popular narratives. To understand the dynamics and complexities of Ameh, she says, it is important to look at the political economy of gift and exchange, and its implications, through a critical gendered lens. In order to use gender as a category of historical analysis, it is vital to analyze not just the relationship between men and women’s experiences in the past, but also of the connection between past history and current historical practices. But one of the difficulties with the term ‘gender’ is that it is equated with women, and any issue that deals with the question of women is now being replaced by ‘gender’, which seems to be politically correct but it is conceptually very problematic. In the general context of Northeast India, and Sumi tribe in particular, the use of ‘gender’ as an analytical category is hardly seen. Keeping in mind the centrality of gender in the political economy of marriage, the related transactions and the power politics that is played out among the Sumis, this paper interrogates the idea of gift and exchange.
Project Title
Oral Traditions: Continuity and Transformations, Northeast India and Southeast Asia, Shillong
DOCUMENT TYPE
image
Identifier:
SC_37
Related Term
Oral Traditions
Related place
Shillong
USE RESTRICTIONS
In Copyright
RIGHTS HOLDER
INTACH
