Introduction: Land, Kinship and Identity

This chapter discusses the processes by which kinship relations, particularly patrilineages, are being strengthened amongst the Santal community in a village, called here Chuapara, in Dumka district, Jharkhand (see Figure 2.1). The rise of a democratic state, accepting the notion of equal rights for all citizens, alongside the creation of market institutions (wage labour and land markets, for instance) to meet production requirements, is expected to lead to an erosion of men's base of power in terms of both caste- and kinship-based control over land. However, writings in the field of anthropology have demonstrated the continuing importance of kinship in determining property rights and gendered access to resources, social rights and obligations, and in organising power and authority.2Rather than withering away, social structures of kinship and caste have been re-fashioned, with the upper-caste elite diversifying and dominating non-agricultural assets, not just land. Women, who face disadvantages in terms of education, capital and mobility while continuing to be held responsible for household maintenance, are further marginalised in this diversification process (Epstein, Suryanarayana and Thimmegowda, 1998; Harriss-White and Janakarajan, 2004). Sacks notes that

In this chapter, I examine the ways in which kinship relations are being reformulated and their implications for gender in a context where the struggle for a separate state of Jharkhand emphasises not just a class or proletarian identity but also a tribal, or adivasi, identity. There has been considerable debate on the use of different terms when representing the tribes, as these have varying political connotations. Hardiman notes that the term adivasi is preferable in the Indian context – with over 400 such communities representing close to 8 per cent of the total population – as it relates to ‘a particular historical development: that of subjugation’ (1987: 15) by traders, moneylenders and landlords who established themselves under the protection of colonial authorities.