Transformation of Everyday Life and Gender: Life Histories of Elderly Women in India

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25283006
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Area studies
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Oshikawa Fumiko 京都大学, 地域研究統合情報センター, 名誉教授 (30280605)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): YAGI Yuko 宮城学院大学, 学芸学部, 教授 (70212272) ; MATSUO Mizuho 人間文化研究機構, 国立民族学博物館, 准教授 (80583608)
• Research Collaborator: KANNO Misako ; Palriwala Rajni
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: インド / 高齢女性 / ライフヒストリー / 家族 / 女子教育 / 消費社会

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The main aim of this project is to record detaild life histories of elderly women in India, focussing on the transformation of everyday life, both of material aspects and of 'human relations and perceptions' with family members and local communities. 40 life histories, collected at Delhi, Pune and the rural area of eastern UP, were recorded by local language and translated into English. These life histories reveal very different nature of experiences of elderly women according to regions, classes and families and individuals. At the same time, they also show that most of the elderly women we interviewed are not passive beings. They have fought and negotiated throughout their lives for survival and betterment of their family, and sometimes for the society and themselves as in Pune's cases.

Free Research Field

地域研究