Subjectivities of Suitability

Intimate Aspirations' in an Engineering College

Bibliographic Data

ID2634852
AuthorsNandini Hebbar N (University of Delhi, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume19
Issue19
Publication date2018-10-31
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSouth Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1960-6060 • E-ISSN: 1960-6060
PublisherOpenEdition (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.4000/samaj.4578
OpenAlexW2898715876
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited19

In this paper, I attempt to capture the “intimate aspirations” of young women as they emerge in the narratives of their relationships in college, their marriage strategies and negotiations in an engineering college in Tamil Nadu. Given the kind of surveillance and the disciplinary mechanisms implemented by college authorities, the engineering college is not just a site of youth sociality, but emerges in politically significant ways to influence students’ “intimate aspirations.” Relationship trajectories develop on a terrain of intersectionality between caste and gender as students explore possible marriage through the possibility of being able to “convince” parents. While potentially indicating shifts in endogamy, what these “choices” conclusively show is the crafting of suitable subjectivities within the realm of the acceptable. Young women emphasize their professional and academic achievements, and those of their partners, in ways that complement existing status, in order to highlight a suitable marriage. I argue that such responses show the concomitant ways in which caste and gender are produced

Sociology · Global Educational Policies and Reforms · Psychology

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access