Popular Western images of Indian women range from submissive brides behind their veils to the powerful, active women of Indian politics. In this lively and unique book, Patricia and Roger Jeffery present a different perspective on women's lives. Focusing on the mundane rather than the exotic, they explore the complex interplay between the power of

A comprehensive collection of essays that examines the roles of women in fundamentalist movements, as well as the gender policies of these movements and of the South Asian states in which they operate.

"Degrees Without Freedom?" re-evaluates debates on education, modernity, and social change in contemporary development studies and anthropology. Education is widely imputed with the capacity to transform the prospects of the poor. But in the context of widespread unemployment in rural north India, it is better understood as a contradictory resource, providing marginalized youth with certain freedoms but also drawing them more tightly into systems of inequality. The book advances this argument through detailed case studies of educated but unemployed or underemployed young men in rural western Uttar Pradesh. This book draws on fourteen months' ethnographic research with young men from middle caste Hindu, Muslim, and ex-Untouchable backgrounds. In addition to offering a new perspective on how education affects the rural poor in South Asia, "Degrees Without Freedom?" includes in-depth reflection on the politics of modernity, changing rural masculinities, and caste and communal politics.

Popular Western images of Indian women range from submissive brides behind their veils to the powerful, active women of Indian politics. In this lively and unique book, Patricia and Roger Jeffery present a different perspective on women's lives. Focusing on the mundane rather than the exotic, they explore the complex interplay between the power of social structures to constrain individuals and the ways women negotiate these constraints to carve out places for themselves.Based on information collected by the authors during their research in villages in Bijnor District, western Uttar Pradesh, the volume offers eight life histories of Hindu and Muslim women. The women's life histories present a variety of class positions and domestic circumstances, illustrating many aspects of north Indian village life. Interspersed with thematic discussions composed of dialogues, episodes, and songs, the life histories deal with topics of vital concern for women in rural north India: the birth of children, worries about dowry, arranging weddings, sexual politics in marriage, relationships with in-laws, relationships with natal kin, and widowhood.

"Degrees Without Freedom?" re-evaluates debates on education, modernity, and social change in contemporary development studies and anthropology. Education is widely imputed with the capacity to transform the prospects of the poor. But in the context of widespread unemployment in rural north India, it is better understood as a contradictory resource, providing marginalized youth with certain freedoms but also drawing them more tightly into systems of inequality. The book advances this argument through detailed case studies of educated but unemployed or underemployed young men in rural western Uttar Pradesh. This book draws on fourteen months' ethnographic research with young men from middle caste Hindu, Muslim, and ex-Untouchable backgrounds. In addition to offering a new perspective on how education affects the rural poor in South Asia, "Degrees Without Freedom?" includes in-depth reflection on the politics of modernity, changing rural masculinities, and caste and communal politics.

Originally published in 1976, this study analyses the immigration of Muslim and Christian Pakistani families coming into Britain. Dr Jeffery develops the argument to look behind the sharp differences which emerged between the Muslim and the Christian families. Drawing on material gathered in Pakistan as well as Britain, Dr Jeffery paints a picture of the families' lives in Britain from their points of view, and argues that the differences between the Muslims and the Christians must be traced back to the different ways in which they see their positions in Pakistan.

In this book, a study of the population processes of two castes in north India, the authors ask why fertility levels are higher among the Muslim Sheikhs than the Hindu Jats. They conclude that explanations can only partly be attributed to gender and religion, and that economic and political status is a defining factor. The book has implications for the understanding of population and politics in India generally, and will be invaluable to students of the region and anyone interested in the demography of developing countries.