Defining Girlhood in India A Transnational History of Sexual Maturity Laws
Produktdetaljer
Biographical note
Ashwini Tambe is an associate professor of women's studies at the University of Maryland College Park, where she is also affiliate faculty in history and Asian American studies. She is the author of Codes of Misconduct: Regulating Prostitution in Late Colonial Bombay."Ashwini Tambe’s <i>Defining Girlhood in India</i> is eloquently written, empirically grounded, and persuasively argued." --<i>Journal of Women's History</i>
"By employing a transnational feminist lens to investigate sexual maturity laws that informed the idea of girlhood, this book represents a significant contribution to the field of girlhood studies." --<i>Contemporary South Asia</i><br />
"<i>Defining Girlhood</i> weaves an otherwise rich and extensive tale of the 'girl child' as a rapidly morphing but always potent signifier in Indian and international politics." --<i>Journal of Asian Studies</i><br /><br /><br />
"<i>Defining Girlhood in India</i> emerges as a well-timed and much-needed genealogy of the girl child as a political subject. . . . Beautifully written and organized." --<i>Progress in Development Studies</i><br /><br />
Ashwini Tambe illuminates the ideas that shaped such shifts: how the concept of adolescence as a sheltered phase led to delaying both marriage and legal adulthood; how the imperative of population control influenced laws on marriage age; and how imperial moral hierarchies between nations provoked defensive postures within India. Tambe's transnational feminist approach to legal history shows how intergovernmental debates influenced Indian laws and how expert discourses in India changed UN terminology about girls. Ultimately, the well-meaning focus on child marriage became tethered less to the well-being of girls themselves and more to parents' interests, population control targets, and the preservation of national reputation.