"Behind Mud Walls"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how the book, "Behind Mud Walls" by Charlotte and William Wiser, chronicles the lives of the women of Karimpur up to the year of 1960. It looks at how these rural women, their husbands, and children, were studied over a period of seventy-five years and shows how, during the 1960s, 1970s, 1984, and eventually into the 1990's, the changes and the stasis inherent in the lives of the women of Karimpur were chronicled. It also discusses how the study proved particularly interesting, given the volatile political and social situation in India at the time.

From the Paper:

"In 1930, the women of Karimpur worked almost entirely in mud enclosures. Their days were spent largely in menial labor, ensuring that their family could subside on a day-to-day basis. Their days began at dawn, when they gathered water for their family and their daily tasks of cooking and cleaning. They ground flour. They milked the family's cow or buffalo. They prepared the ovens or chula for the day's cooking. They swept. They collected dung for fuel. They gathered vegetables from the fields. Daily tasks that were finished early simply meant more time for spinning. (144-146) These women lived entirely concealed behind "mud walls," the hardness of their labor invisible to the eyes of the world. Although those of higher castes knew of these women, they both chose not to see the hardship of the women and also were prohibited by caste constraints from visiting them."

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