Family Studies

Within the social, political, and economic contexts existing in modern-day India, family is neither a simple remnant of tradition nor a domain merely representing insulated private lives. Rather, it is implicated in malleable yet overpowering structures, relationships, and practices. If the 'family' is a crucial site of ideological and imaginative investments playing a critical role in reproducing and defining contemporary selves and societies, 'families' are responsive to and constrained by the complex dynamics in which they are enmeshed. Family relationships remain fundamental to survival and security even as policy and legislative imperatives as well as reproductive and communication technologies play a crucial role in reshaping them. Critically interrogating the extant approaches to and concepts within the study of family, Family Studies brings together diverse contributions by scholars from varied backgrounds to focus upon issues central to the conceptualization of family and their implications for Indian society. The chapters in this volume make a strong case for why family as an ideological construct and families as a multitude of lived relationships should continue to be subjects of critical social scientific attention.

Anuja Agrawal, Professor, Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi

Anuja Agrawal is Professor and Head, Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. She has also taught at the Lady Shri Ram College for Women and was a Commonwealth Scholar in 2000-01. Agrawal has authored the monograph Chaste Wives and Prostitute Sisters: Patriarchy and Prostitution among the Bedias of India (Routledge, 2008) and edited the volume titled Migrant Women and Work (Sage, 2006). Additionally, she has written and published extensively on a wide range of issues in the fields of family, kinship, marriage, and gender studies. Her research interests also include denotified tribe (DNT) communities, sex work, and migration.

Introduction, Anuja AgrawalPart I: Critical Reorientations1. Misconceiving the 'Indian Family': The Politics of Family-Based Discourse, Penny Vera-Sanso2. The Insides and Outsides of Families: Social Reproduction in Neoliberal Times, Kumkum SangariPart II Beyond the 'Normative' Family3. 'To Restore the Comforts and Bliss of Married Life': Restitution of Conjugal Rights in Indian Law and Practice, Sylvia Vatuk4. Making Families without Wives: Kinship in the Men's Rights Movement, Srimati Basu5. Marital Status Discrimination in India: Prospects and Possibilities, Arijeet Ghosh and Diksha Sanyal6. Familial Crisis and Marriage: The 'Navigational Capacity for Aspiration', Rama SrinivasanPart III Trust, Betrayal, and Shifting Relations7. Locating Friendship in Family: A Study of Indian Elites, Parul Bhandari8. Spilt Blood: Kinship and Friendship in a Regime of Violence, Soibam Haripriya9. Household Formation of Indian Migrant Parents in Australia, Supriya SinghPart IV New Practices: Familial and Methodological10. Digital Mothering in Middle-Class Families, Shriram Venkatraman11. Displaying the 'Family' Online: Reflections on Syrian Christian Visual Life, Nidhin Donald12. 'Seeing' Family through Wedding Albums, Suryanandini Narain