31, January 2025

Relating body to land: adivasi women and the question of land rights in Gujarat

Author(s): Patel Pratikshakumari Dipakbhai

Authors Affiliations:

Research Scholar, Department of English, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat.

DOIs:10.2015/IJIRMF/202501002     |     Paper ID: IJIRMF202501002


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This research seeks to address issues of land ownership and the gendered dimension of struggle over land in the context of Adivasi women in Gujarat. This paper provides a brief account of Adivasi women’s battles over land in Gujarat, which have been neglected, harassed, and abused. This paper would walk away from a simple characterisation of Adivasi women as merely victims of oppression; instead, it provides a reading of Adivasi women’s efforts to secure land rights, highlighting their strong attachment to land.

The study aims to demonstrate that socio-cultural traditions and legal institutions hinder Adivasi women’s land rights claims. This paper explores the relationship between Adivasi women’s bodies in relation to land, based on the experiences of Adivasi women. The researcher demonstrates that Adivasi women’s land rights, both in traditional practices and formal legal systems, are unable to accurately represent the relationship between an Adivasi woman’s body and land. The data for this paper has been gathered through the researcher’s observation, conversations, and interviews conducted with Adivasi women in the village of Degam Dhodiyawad, located in the Navsari district of Gujarat. The researcher asserts that Adivasi women are strong and proud farmers, having personally witnessed their struggle for and commitment to land.

Adivasi women, land rights struggle, inequality, marginalization.

Patel Pratikshakumari Dipakbhai (2025); Relating body to land: adivasi women and the question of land rights in Gujarat, International Journal for Innovative Research in Multidisciplinary Field, Vol-1, Issue-1, Pp.7-15. DOIs:10.2015/IJIRMF/202501002  Available on – https://www.ijirmf.com/

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