Introduction to the second edition: the discourse of Banaras and the world of the Banaras weaver. Introduction to the first edition. 1. Hindu Banaras: plural realities and singular representations. 2. Muslims in Banaras. 3. Banaras Muslims today: men and women in the warp and weft of the sari. 4. Communal violence in the 1990s and Hindu-Muslim relations. 5. Of home and the world: the homes and worlds of Banaras women. 6. The vanishing world of the Julahas: the current crisis and its consequences. 7. Walking the razor’s edge: narratives of two women. Conclusion.
Appendix I-A: Census tables for handloom sector, Varanasi district. Appendix I-B: Census tables for powerloom sector, Uttar Pradesh. Appendix II: 2001 Census for Varanasi district. Appendix III: Family profiles – Bazardiha, Jalalipur and Lohta. Appendix IV: Handloom Census of India: 2009–10.
Bibliography. Index.
Biography
Vasanthi Raman was formerly a Professorial Fellow at the Centre for Women’s Development Studies (CWDS), New Delhi, and was a Member of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi, India. She has also been Visiting Professor at the University of Joensuu, Finland, and Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, India. She has published extensively in books and journals on issues of social transformation – problems of marginalised groups, tea-garden workers and semi-tribal groups in northeast India; childhood studies and women’s studies. Her recent research work has been on communalism and the construction of gender and Hindu-Muslim relations. Currently she is Vice-Chairperson of the Centre for Women’s Development Studies, New Delhi.
