Moving for Marriage

<p><b>Comparative ethnographic study of women who migrate for marriage in rural north India.</b></p><p><b>Shortlisted for the 2023 BASAS Book Prize presented by British Association for South Asian Studies </b></p><p>Based on ethnographic fieldwork in a village in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh <i>Moving for Marriage</i> compares the lived experiences of women in regional marriages (that conform to caste and community norms within a relatively short distance) with women in cross-regional marriages (that traverse caste linguistic and state boundaries and entail long-distance migration within India). By demonstrating how geographic distance and regional origins make a difference in these women's experiences Shruti Chaudhry challenges stereotypes and moral panics about cross-regional brides who are brought from far away. Indeed <i>Moving for Marriage</i> highlights the ways in which the post-marital experiences of both categories of wives in this study-their work and social relationships their sexual lives and childbearing decisions and their ability to access support in everyday contexts and in the event of marital distress-are shaped by factors such as caste class/poverty religion and stage in the life-course. In focusing on this Global South context Chaudhry makes novel arguments about the development of intimacy within marriages that are inherently unequal and even violent thereby offering an alternative to Euro-American understandings of intimacy and women's agency.</p>