Nine Paths

A Year in the Life of an Indian Village

Lexi Stadlen

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English

Chatto & Windus
05 July 2022

History; Islamic life & practice; Poverty & unemployment; Rural communities; Gender studies: women; Social & cultural anthropology

Lyrical, immersive non-fiction chronicling the stories of nine Muslim women on the margins of modern India, from anthropologist and ethnographer Dr Lexi Stadlen

Revelatory, lyrical and immersive, this is an extraordinary book that takes you deep into these ordinary women's worlds... Their stories are urgent and forcefully articulated - and this book gives us the chance to hear them.

On an island at the eastern edge of India, rural, remote and dense with jungle, is a Muslim village. In an ever-shifting landscape of mangroves and rivers, the women here dwell among contradictions, constrictions and change in a place where one's neighbours are often too close for comfort.

Nine Paths follows the lives of nine of these women, and their families, over the course of a year - from one monsoon season to another.

There are weddings to celebrate and deaths to mourn, difficult marriages to navigate and tragedies to overcome, as we observe the everyday drudgery and unexpected turmoil, and the dreams of something better.

Revelatory, lyrical and immersive, this is an extraordinary book that takes you deep into these ordinary women's worlds. Anthropologist Lexi Stadlen spent sixteen months in this village, talking, listening, and getting to know these women, who were willing to share their complicated, fascinating lives. Their stories are urgent and forcefully articulated - and this book gives us the chance to hear them.

By: Lexi Stadlen
Imprint: Chatto & Windus
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 134mm, Spine: 23mm
Weight: 310g
ISBN: 9781784744106
ISBN 10: 1784744107
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 05 July 2022
Audience: General/trade , Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , ELT Advanced , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Dr Lexi Stadlen is an anthropologist and ethnographer with a PhD in Social Anthropology from the London School of Economics. She spent two and a half years living and conducting on-the-ground research in India. Sixteen months of this was in a remote village in the West Bengal lowlands, where she learnt the local language and over time, came to develop a deep understanding of the women's lives and experiences. She is the winner of the 2019 Bayly Prize, awarded by the Royal Asiatic Society for an outstanding thesis on an Asian topic completed at a British university in the preceding year. She now lives in London with her husband, son and their adopted Mumbai street cat Shiva.

Reviews for Nine Paths: A Year in the Life of an Indian Village

Intimate, insightful and powerful, Nine Paths pulls the reader deep into what it means to be a Muslim woman in India, and allows us to appreciate the strength, resilience and bravery in the face of the many forms of violence negotiated daily. Lexi Stadlen vividly brings to life the best of immersive ethnography -- Alpa Shah