Dowry Murder: The Imperial Origins of a Cultural Crime

Dowry Murder: The Imperial Origins of a Cultural Crime
Veena Talwar Oldenburg | 2002-07-18 00:00:00 | Oxford University Press, USA | 288 | History
The Hindu custom of dowry has long been blamed for the murder of wives and female infants in India. In this highly provocative book, Veena Oldenburg argues that these killings are neither about dowry nor reflective of an Indian culture or caste system that encourages violence against women. Rather, such killings can be traced directly to the influences of the British colonial era. In the precolonial period, dowry was an institution managed by women, for women, to enable them to establish their status and have recourse in an emergency. As a consequence of the massive economic and societal upheaval brought on by British rule, womens entitlements to the precious resources obtained from land were erased and their control of the system diminished, ultimately resulting in a devaluing of their very lives. Taking us on a journey into the colonial Punjab, Veena Oldenburg skillfully follows the paper trail left by British bureaucrats to indict them for interpreting these crimes against women as the inherent defects of Hindu caste culture. The British, Oldenburg claims, publicized their "civilizing mission" and blamed the caste system in order to cover up the devastation their own agrarian policies had wrought on the Indian countryside. A forceful demystification of contemporary bride burning concludes this remarkably original book. Deploying her own experiences and memories and her research at a women's shelter with "dowry cases" for almost a year in the mid-eighties, the author looks at the contemporary violence against wives and daughters-in-law in modern India. Oldenburg seamlessly weaves the contemporary with the historical, the personal with the political, and strips the layers of exoticism off an ancient practice to show how an invaluable safety net was twisted into a deadly noose. She brings us startlingly close to the worsening treatment of modern Indian women as she challenges us to rethink basic assumptions about womens human and economic rights. Combining rigorous research with impassioned analysis and a nuanced treatment of a complex, deeply controversial subject, this book critiques colonialism while holding a mirror to gender discrimination in modern India.
Reviews
Can a book be scholastic AND heart-wrenching at the same time? This one is.



I came across Ms. Oldenburg's work while working on a project on the interrelation of the Indian woman's safety and Economic independence, in Grad school.



I love her work for the following reasons:



1. She has extensive bibliography and citations to establish credibility of the statements in the book. It is easy and effortless to read historical work knowing that there is veracity and not just folk-lore in the stories told. This helps readers form a healthy relationship with the issue and gives the society tools to work on an issue in a balanced, effective way.



Those who have done research work on subjects pertaining to India know just how frustrating/close to impossible it is to get cited work - esp. if you are physically not located in India. Most professional publications even, do not feel the need to cite sources. For e.g., you can search on a topic of social interest or the work of an NGO in India and a myriad of results will mushroom regurgitating the same info without any credit to the original source.



2. Not only is her work inundated perfectly, she is capable of juggling objectivity, compassion and empathy in one clean shot in this book. I read a few pages on Goolge books before I bought it. And I am glad I did. It will be something I will pass on to all the children in my family, male and female.



It is to blame current situations, but difficult to decipher the profound impact of several decades of slavery. A slavery of paying unreal taxes - for 100s of years - that robbed an entire nation of its prosperity.



If anyone has doubts about just how damaging the British were to India, they should read this book. It tells a horrific story of indirectly perpetrated crimes with evidential support.



3. The author does not draw any inferences for the user. She presents the facts, a million details that explain what shaped the Indian woman's story, leading to her present day position in modern India.



25,000 a year killed - and counting.



Ms. Oldenburg, you have to write more!!!



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If you are looking for other commendable works in Indian Feminism, I also highly recommend Pramila Jaypal's Pilgrimage to India Pilgrimage to India: A Woman Revisits Her Homeland (Adventura Series)


Reviews
"One of Dowry Murder's many original contributions is to link the discourses on female infanticide/dowry in the high colonial period with the current discourse on dowry. Oldenburg provides a complex picture of causality."--Barbara Metcalf, Professor of History, University of California, Davis

"A strong, contentious book on an intellectually and socially hot topic, Dowry Murder offers a rich and complex answer to the question: What are the causes of violence against women in India, of female infanticide, 'dowry' deaths, and battering?"
--Susanne Hoeber Rudolph, Proefssor of Political Science, University of Chicago

"With this study, Oldenburg has turned the standard interpretation of both sati and dowry death on its head. Her methodology combines the historian's careful combing of the archives with the anthropologist's use of life histories and interviews. This is a provocative and original work of scholarship. Many will disagree with it, but few will be able to ignore it."
--Gail Minault, Professor of History, University of Texas, Austin

"Oldenburg has a unique and compelling voice as a historian. She has left no stone, or document, unturned in her search for answers."
--Geraldine Forbes, Professor of History, SUNY Oswego

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