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Book Summary of The Warp and the Weft: Community and Gender Identity Among the Weavers of Banaras
Located at the confluence of three processes ” the impact of communal violence accompanied by an insidious communali? sation, growing concerns with identity and the gender dimen?sions of the processes ” this book is a fascinating investiga? tion into the phenomenon of communalism, particularly since the 1990s when the question of Hindu“Muslim relations resur?nfaced in the aftermath of the destruction of the Babri Masjid. The actors are the Muslim weavers of Banaras and the site is the Banarasi sari industry. The ethnography is located in the city of Banaras in Uttar Pradesh, best known for its sari industry. Two contradictory aspects of Hindu“Muslim relations are significant in this city. On the one hand Banaras has the reputation of being riot?prone, exacerbating tensions between the two communities, while on the other there is a mutual dependence on each other; on the one hand it has been characterised as a Hindu city, while, on the other, it has seen the evolution of a cosmo?politan urban culture in an essentially artisanal and pre?industrial milieu with its characteristic fluidity and communication across social boundaries. Appropriately, the dominant metaphor used by the author is tana-bana --- the wrap and the weft of the Banarasi sari as reproduced in the interweaving between the two communities. isbn
9780415553766
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Pages : 316
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