Women, Religion and the Body in South Asia

Why do women and men, born into poverty, choose to become mendicants and singers? This is one of the questions that the monograph Women, Religion and the Body in South Asia seeks to answer. The book is based on more than fifteen months of fieldwork that involved living with a family of mendicants, sharing their one room hut, learning to sing Baul songs and traveling with them to perform at festivals and concerts. Close participant observation and the knowledge that emerged in the course of interaction allowed for an unusual person-centered vantage on the larger themes brought in, including emotions, life stories, and religion. The various chapters narrate attitudes towards caste, and perceptions of the body, particularly the female body, how to care for it when living and how to treat it when it dies. 

The author Kristin Hanssen is an independent scholar who received her doctorate from the University of Oslo, Norway in 2002. She is currently working on the topic of begging and patronage in rural West Bengal, and is pursuing her interest in mortuary practices. Her book Women, Religion and the Body in South Asia: Living with Bengali Bauls was published in 2018, and can be ordered from Routledge.