Description
People of lower caste live throughout the villages of Nepal but have
been noticeably absent from ethnographic accounts of the Himalayan region.
Starting from the perspective of lower-caste Hindu women, Mary M. Cameron
offers a long-overdue study of artisans and farmers in western Nepal.
On the Edge of the Auspicious skillfully shows the connections
between caste hierarchy and gender relations leading to domestic, economic,
and religious power of lower-caste women. Situating her study in the history
of land ownership and contemporary family and work relations, Cameron
explains how and why patriarchal ideology associated with high-caste families
in Nepal does not apply to women of lower caste. Drawing on data from
work, family, and religious domains, this ethnography goes further than
other current studies of caste hierarchy in South Asia to show the everyday
material and ideological dimensions of domination and lower-caste people’s
