Living the Body: Embodiment, Womanhood and Identity in Contemporary India

This is a book about embodiment and identity in the context of particular women s lives in an urban setting. It is concerned with the development of a sociology of embodiment in the context of women s lives in contemporary, urban India. The focus on embodiment is mediated by gender and class, two critical elements that constitute identity in relation to embodiment. The study is based on material collected from interviews with working class women in an urban slum and with professional, upper class women, with young women in secondary schools and from material from a women s magazine.