Conclusion: Peter Berta -- Preface -- Introduction: Closures, new beginnings, and happily ever after? Civil marriage in postindependence India : birth of a utopic idea -- Of rebellious lovers and conformist citizens -- Love, marriage, and the brave new world -- Gender trouble and a state of illusions -- Instituting court marriage : the legal fiction of protection petitions -- Consenting adults and the state : social change through conformity -- Toward an alternative future : eloping couples, citizenry, and social mobility -- Conclusion: Closures, new beginnings, and happily ever after?
Summary:
"Inquiries into marital patterns can serve as an effective lens to analyze social structures and material cultures not only on the question of sexuality, but also on the nature of a private citizen's engagement with state and law. Through ethnographic research in courtrooms, community, and kinship spaces, the author outlines the transformations in material culture and political economy that have led to renewed negotiations on the institution of marriage in North India, especially in legal spaces. Tracing organically evolving notions of sexual consent and legal subjectivity, [this book] underlines how non-normative decisions regarding marriage become possible in a region otherwise known for high instances of honor killings and rigid kinship structures. Aspirations for consensual relationships have led to a tentative attempt to forge relationships that are non-normative but grudgingly approved after state intervention. The book traces this nascent and under-explored trend in the North Indian landscape."-- Provided by publisher.
Series:
The politics of marriage and gender: global issues in local contexts
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