Ethnicity and gender identity politic among the khasi Society

1. CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF HARYANA
Term Paper
Sociology of Gender
Submitted To: Ms. T.Longkoi Khiamniungan
Topic
Ethnicity and Gender Identity Politics among the Khasi Society
Submitted By:
Jeetendra Saini
M.A. Sociology (IInd semester)
Roll No. 8353
Date: 30/03/2017

2. Introduction
In this topic we discuss with the relating issues of
‘ethnicity ’and ‘gender’ which is very popular topic of discourse in
contemporary sociological literature . but rarely have sociologists
evinced sufficient interest to explore the link between these two
concept’s while the discourse on ethnicity covers a wide repertoire of
issues , ranging from the ideo-culturological construction of identity ,
on the one hand , to its relationship with ‘race class nation and state
one possible reason for this apparent indifference may be due to the
fact that the link between the two is overtly ambiguous and complex .
As T.H. Eriksen notes in his book ethnicity and nationalism
according to the anthropological perspective . ‘The relationship
between gender and ethnicity varies to such an extent, and can be so
complex, that it would require another book to do justice to the
subject; (1993). Drawing inferences from his studies in the Caribbean
, he observe that ethnic minorities and women occupy parallel
structural position in the society. Both are muted categories with little
formal power.
This chapter examines the link between matriliny
and gender. Focused on the Khasi of Northeast India, it shows that
while women have comparative security under matriliny, they are not
entirely free from subordination. The egalitarian principle, which
underlines matrilineal descent, is subverted by men's lust for power
and the hierarchical political structures from which women as a rule

3. are excluded. This chapter brings into sharp relief how men use their
position to produce an ideology that subjugates women. To counter
the steamrolling effect of modernization and change and the threat
these engender to their identity, men are increasingly using the state
machinery to come up with measures that distort the matrilineal
system. The arguments they use are also steeped in fundamentalist
and patriarchal ideology. Women's traditional exclusion from politics
has effectively aided men in this regard. This chapter observes that
with the Khasis' accession to the Indian Union and the political
modernization of the region, the link between ethnicity, patriarchy,
and the state, which was lying dormant in the traditional political set-
up, has come to the fore.
To contextualise my argument in this be focus my
attention on the khasi custom of Lineage Bill, 1997. As a proposed
legislation ostensibly to preserve the khasi matrilineal system, but in
reality in turn out be an instrument to reconstruct and redefine their
ethnic identity. Through the bill is couched in gender-neutral terms,
given that the khasi is a matrilineal society those affected by its
provisions are primarily women. In this chapter revolves round the
issue of female sexuality and the normative structure within which a
woman is expected to operate, it also throws interesting light on the
pattern of gender relation in the society. It would be pertinent to first
delineate the social and institutional features that characterise the
khasi society.

4. Ethnographic Context of Khasi Society
The khasi society is one of the oldest inhabitants of
North-East in India. Although ethnographers and historian trace their
origin to South-East Asia, the people themselves believe that they
descended from heaven and are indigenous to the land within which
they inhabit. Located in the erstwhile United Khasi and Jaintia Hills
district in the undivided state of assam, today, it is devided into four
districts of East Khasi Hills, west Khasi Hills, Jaintia Hills and Ri
Bohi district which form part of the state of Meghalaya, the khasi are
classified into kbynrian, pnar/Jaintia, Bhoi, War and Lyngngam,
designations that convey the region from which they come from.
According to custom, he an perform no act of
importance without the approval of the state assembly the Supreme
Council on which the myntris and other dignitaries of the state sit. It
is said that David Scott, the Agent to the Governor General, was so
impressed with the democratic ethos that underline that Khasi
political structure hat on one occasion he remarked: “I have often
witnessed the debates in St. Stephen’s Chaplel, But those of the
Cossya parliament appeared to me to be conducted with more dignity
of manner. Ironically, the democratic principle on which the khasi
polity is based does not extend to women.
Below the clan there are smaller units known as the
kpob and the ing. The kpob is an extended kin group, which
comprises a group of household whose members trace descent from a

5. single great grandmother. Traditionally, members of a kpob are bound
together by shared sentiments of genealogical connectedness, joint
landownership and a shared cromlech where the bones of the dead are
deposited. In the present times the corporate character of the kpob has
become rather limited. Demographic expansion, spatial mobility,
conversion to Christianity and the ultimogeniture pattern of
inheritance continually threaten its unity, rendering it functionally
ineffective outside the core group of the family.
The advent of the British with their new system of
administration, education and religion has left a deep impact on the
close knit and kin-based Khasi society. While conversion to
Christianity eroded the ideological/ritual basis of the khasi family,
education introduced the people to new frontiers of knowledge and
employment opportunities. Beside, the extension of the colonial
system of administration broke the isolation of the region and opened
up new network of communication, which facilitated the movement
of the outside population into the hitherto excluded areas. Through
exclusion remained the hallmark of colonial policies in the
administration of tribe, the extension of colonial rule brought with and
trading castes, which served as important agents of change in the
otherwise stable and placid tribal society.
This historical fact has left an indelible mark on
khasi martiliny, which permits non-khasi women married to khasi
men to establish their own clan so that their children could be

6. incorporated into the khasi society as recruitment into the clan is
customarily carried out through the mother, children born of such
union can use the mother’s personal name or the occupation of her
family as its clan name and in the course of time recognised as Khasi.
To distinguish them from the clans of indigenous origin these clans
are known under the generic title ‘Dkhar’. However, to maintain their
identity among themselves, many used the prefix ‘Khar’ before their
acquired or adopted nme. For example, kharrani, Khabamon
Kharbuli, Kharujon are all claans of non-khasi origin derived from the
personal name of the non-tribal mother or from the occupation
practised by her family.
Content and Analysis of the Bill
The khasi Hills Autonomous District (khasi Custom
of Lineage) Bill, 1997 (hereinafter called the bill), as passed by the
Khasi Hills District Council on 13 March 1997, is yet to receive the
Governor’s assent before it become a law. Twice before (1980 and
1992) similar attempts were made but failed to materialise on account
of the Governor withholding assent to bill on each occasion. The
present bill, under consideration is yet another attempt amde by the
District Council aimed at cidifying the khasi social custom of lineage.
According to the statement of Objects and Reason, this exercise has
been necessitated “owing to the fact that a large number of people
have been misusing the Khasi social custom of lineage for their
personal advantage and self-interest, thus jeopardising and seriously

7. disturbing the social and cultural life of the Khasi people. As such, it
is felt expedient to provide a law for strictly following the prevailing
Khasi social custom of lineage in order to keep and preserve the
traditional matrilineal system of society of te khasi and for the
protection of their interest and at the same time of prevent claims of
khasi status by unscrupulous persons purely for the benefits,
concessions and privileges conferred on the Khasi as members of the
Scheduled Tribe Under the Constitution of India”.
If the Khasi Custom of Lineage contains a
number of provisions which go against the spirit of liberal democracy,
the problem has further been compounded by the storm of
controversies it has generated. Although some like the Seng Khasi
expressed their agreement with the spirt of the bill but refrained from
supporting it “in the present from and content”. By assigning rights to
the mother the Khasi gives cultural recognition to the woman’s
biological and reproductive role and highlights the crucial
significance given to the nurturing role of the women. Moreover, fact
that the woman not only carries the child/foetus in her womb for ten
lunar cycles, but also nourishes it with her blood till it attains fetal
maturity is deeply inscribed within the khasi kinship ideology. The
mother’s nurturing role continues long after the child is as she feeds it
with her milk until it is old enough to subsist on a normal diet, thus
resounding the Khasi metaphor for common descent—“born of the
same womb” and/or “sharing the same blood”.

8. Identity, Sexuality and the state
It would be inadequate the Khasi Custom of Lineage
Bill without looking into the historical and material factors that
directly or indirectly contributed to it.
Christianity particularly has serious eroded the
ideological and material basis of the Khasi family. While the
Christian missionaries did not directly interfere with the customs and
tradition of the people, conversion to Christianity threatened the
solidarity of the matrilineal descent group. As Khasi matriliny is
premised on the ritual unity of the sibling group, change of religion
weakens the ideological basis of the system and undermines the
power of the mother’s brother over the family. Beside, Christianity
with its strong patriarchal orientation binds a man closer to his wife
and children thus loosening his tie with the matrikin.
The controversies around the Khasi Custom of
Lineage Bill as well as the implicit assumptions underlying its
stringent provision prescribing the new parameters of ethnic identity
are both an attestation of this fact as well as an attempt by men to
reinforce their domination in the wake of social change and threat of
losing their traditional control over women.
Conclusion
Some of the final discussion some broad
observations would be seen. To begin with, the above account brings

9. into sharp focus the unequal power relation between women and men
among the khasi. Although women are traditionally disadvantaged,
matriliny gave them comparative autonomy and security not readily
available to their counterparts in patrilineal societies. Nonetheless,
matriliny far from being a liberating force, added to women’s
vulnerability. By vesting descent right in the mother women are not
only objectified as symbols of their culture and tradition, they also
become subjected to a strict social and moral code to uphold the
honour of the family and society.