On The Edge Of The Auspicious

About the Book

People of lower caste live throughout the villages of Nepal. But accounts of their place in the Himalayan region remain sparse. Mary M. Cameron uses the perspective of lower-caste Hindu women as a focal point for her examination of artisans and farmers in western Nepal.

As Cameron shows, connections between caste hierarchy and gender relations shape the domestic, economic, and religious power of lower-caste women. Cameron situates her analysis in the history of land ownership and contemporary family and work relations. Her account explains how and why patriarchal ideology of high-caste families in Nepal does not apply to women of lower caste. Cameron draws on data from work, family, and religious domains to reveal the everyday material and ideological dimensions of domination, and how people in the lower caste resist it.