"Are there really widows anymore?": what widowhood looks like in a Hindu Canadian diaspora community

Extant scholarship that has been largely focused on sati and lived experience in the Indian context presents widowhood for Hindu women as a largely negative state distinct from that of wife. Using data from a series of semi-structured interviews with 14 women in St. John’s, Newfoundland, this thesis...

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Main Author: Russell, Caitlin
Format: Text
Language:unknown
Published: Memorial University of Newfoundland 2021
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Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.48336/0p30-8842
https://research.library.mun.ca/14965/
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spelling ftdatacite:10.48336/0p30-8842 2023-05-15T17:22:28+02:00 "Are there really widows anymore?": what widowhood looks like in a Hindu Canadian diaspora community Russell, Caitlin 2021 https://dx.doi.org/10.48336/0p30-8842 https://research.library.mun.ca/14965/ unknown Memorial University of Newfoundland article-journal ScholarlyArticle Text 2021 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.48336/0p30-8842 2022-03-10T11:13:21Z Extant scholarship that has been largely focused on sati and lived experience in the Indian context presents widowhood for Hindu women as a largely negative state distinct from that of wife. Using data from a series of semi-structured interviews with 14 women in St. John’s, Newfoundland, this thesis describes and analyzes these women’s perceptions and experiences of widowhood in the Hindu Canadian diaspora. It asserts that while a widowed woman must negotiate the roles, rules, and attributes of "widow," in these contexts they are not fixed or permanent. This thesis examines closely four different components present in Hindu Canadian understandings of widowhood: 1) modifications in diet and clothing that signify the shift from wife to widow; 2) ostracism of widows from the religious and social life of the Hindu community; 3) the positions and relationships of widows in the community, in their family, and; 4) the definitions, classifications and categorization of widows and widowhood among both widowed and non-widowed women. Through each of these frames, the thesis documents how the Canadian Hindu widow both claims and is attributed respect, status, and independence and that the identity, relationships, and practices of widows, though part of continuous process of change, are not set apart from those of wives in any absolute manner. Text Newfoundland DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) Indian
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description Extant scholarship that has been largely focused on sati and lived experience in the Indian context presents widowhood for Hindu women as a largely negative state distinct from that of wife. Using data from a series of semi-structured interviews with 14 women in St. John’s, Newfoundland, this thesis describes and analyzes these women’s perceptions and experiences of widowhood in the Hindu Canadian diaspora. It asserts that while a widowed woman must negotiate the roles, rules, and attributes of "widow," in these contexts they are not fixed or permanent. This thesis examines closely four different components present in Hindu Canadian understandings of widowhood: 1) modifications in diet and clothing that signify the shift from wife to widow; 2) ostracism of widows from the religious and social life of the Hindu community; 3) the positions and relationships of widows in the community, in their family, and; 4) the definitions, classifications and categorization of widows and widowhood among both widowed and non-widowed women. Through each of these frames, the thesis documents how the Canadian Hindu widow both claims and is attributed respect, status, and independence and that the identity, relationships, and practices of widows, though part of continuous process of change, are not set apart from those of wives in any absolute manner.
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author Russell, Caitlin
spellingShingle Russell, Caitlin
"Are there really widows anymore?": what widowhood looks like in a Hindu Canadian diaspora community
author_facet Russell, Caitlin
author_sort Russell, Caitlin
title "Are there really widows anymore?": what widowhood looks like in a Hindu Canadian diaspora community
title_short "Are there really widows anymore?": what widowhood looks like in a Hindu Canadian diaspora community
title_full "Are there really widows anymore?": what widowhood looks like in a Hindu Canadian diaspora community
title_fullStr "Are there really widows anymore?": what widowhood looks like in a Hindu Canadian diaspora community
title_full_unstemmed "Are there really widows anymore?": what widowhood looks like in a Hindu Canadian diaspora community
title_sort "are there really widows anymore?": what widowhood looks like in a hindu canadian diaspora community
publisher Memorial University of Newfoundland
publishDate 2021
url https://dx.doi.org/10.48336/0p30-8842
https://research.library.mun.ca/14965/
geographic Indian
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genre Newfoundland
genre_facet Newfoundland
op_doi https://doi.org/10.48336/0p30-8842
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