Part One: The Politics of Cultural Contestation, 1 Introduction: The "Untouchable" Rejection of Hegemony and False Consciousness, 2 "Kinship Burns!" Kinship Discourses and Gender, 3 Marrying Money: Changing Preference and Practice in Tamil Marriage, 4 Blood Across the Stars: Astrology and the Construction of Gender, 5 The Vulnerability of Power: Puberty Rituals, 6 Dancing the Goddess: Possession, Caste, and Gender, Part Two: The Politics of Everyday life, 7 "Beware, It Sticks!" Discourses of Gender and Caste, Part Three: Gender and Production Politics, 8 Pauperizing the Rural Poor: Landlessness in Aruloor, 9 Every Blade of Green: Landless Women Laborers, Production, and Reproduction, 10 Discipline and Control: Labor Contracts and Rural Female Labor, 11 Mutuality and Competition: Women Landless Laborers and Wage Rates, 12 In God's Eyes: Gender, Caste, and Class in Aruloor