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Invitations to Love: Literacy, Love Letters, and Social Change in Nepal
Invitations to Love provides a close examination of the dramatic shift away from arranged marriage and capture marriage toward elopement in the village of Junigau, Nepal. Laura M. Ahearn shows that young Nepalese people are applying their newly acquired literacy skills to love-letter writing, fostering a transition that involves not only a shift in marriage rituals, but also a change in how villagers conceive of their own ability to act and attribute responsibility for events. These developments have potential ramifications that extend far beyond the realm of marriage and well past the Himalayas.
The love-letter correspondences examined by Ahearn also provide a deeper understanding of the social effects of literacy. While the acquisition of literary skills may open up new opportunities for some individuals, such skills can also impose new constraints, expectations, and disappointments. The increase in female literacy rates in Junigau in the 1990s made possible the emergence of new courtship practices and facilitated self-initiated marriages, but it also reinforced certain gender ideologies and undercut some avenues to social power, especially for women.
Scholars, and students in such fields as anthropology, women's studies, linguistics, development studies, and South Asian studies will find this book ethnographically rich and theoretically insightful. Laura M. Ahearn is Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Rutgers University.
The love-letter correspondences examined by Ahearn also provide a deeper understanding of the social effects of literacy. While the acquisition of literary skills may open up new opportunities for some individuals, such skills can also impose new constraints, expectations, and disappointments. The increase in female literacy rates in Junigau in the 1990s made possible the emergence of new courtship practices and facilitated self-initiated marriages, but it also reinforced certain gender ideologies and undercut some avenues to social power, especially for women.
Scholars, and students in such fields as anthropology, women's studies, linguistics, development studies, and South Asian studies will find this book ethnographically rich and theoretically insightful. Laura M. Ahearn is Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Rutgers University.
312 pages, Paperback
First published November 5, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 24, 2018
4.5 ⭐️
December 13, 2008
Laura Ahern’s “Invitations to Love” is an excellent read, particularly for those new to cultural or linguistic anthropology. She addresses he key terms, arguments, and history over the first three chapters of the book, before delving into the meat of her research.
The first chapter provides grounding for understanding the location and political climate of the Magars as an ethnic group in Nepal. It also gives an overview of the changes in gender and literacy, which are expanded upon in the latter parts of the book. The second chapter is used to place Ahearn in the social life of the village, and to explain her methods and their limitations. This chapter is very well done, in that it provides a backdrop to the researcher and her interactions with the village. The third chapter outlines her key terms.
The most important concepts for this book are right in the title: Literacy, love, and social change. Her framework for literacy is a must read, because it informs us about the entirety of the book. She states that she is in favor of dealing with literacy not in the autonomous model, which suggests that all the societies will exhibit the same changes brought about by literacy, but on the ideological model which looks at the specific effects of literacy in a given population. This flavors her later interpretations, as they are consistently aimed only at creating an understanding of this group, rather than an understanding of literacy as whole. This argument is not explicitly touched on throughout the book, but is implicit in many areas.
Social change is of course the core of this work. While this is an apparently transparent concept, it is less well defined when you are actually looking for it, and what constitutes an actual change. For this Ahearn turns to Raymond Williams, who’s concept of “structures of feelings” is used by Ahearn. It is the changes in the thoughts and emotions of the individuals that create a discord with the structures of society, (keeping in mind that structures can of course be in flux as well) that delineate the idea of social change. This change is also not necessarily a rebellion against the existing structures, but change in perceptions relating to them. This foundation serves the work well, and being able to internalize and apply this concept elsewhere would likely be a boon for anyone else doing similar work.
Ahearn supports her argument’s for change by looking at love letters, participant observation and analyzing texts brought into the village by the school and other development efforts. She draws most heavily on her interactions and observations to provide the basis for her analysis of the letters themselves. The letters and other written work are a key aspect of the evidence, however, there is a preponderance of other material addressed that also reflect the changes Ahearn is looking at. I get the impression that this book could have been almost written without the use of the letters at all. That is of course blasphemous, where would a book on societal changes due to literacy be without examples of written production?
Not all of the evidence presented is qualitative, chapter 4 being dedicated to a quantitative approach: A survey tracking marriage trends over time. I found this useful, as without it I’d have been left wondering at the relative scale of these changes.
Overall this was an excellent read, both because of it’s persuasiveness and the overall dedication put into it’s production. It’s incredibly thorough in many regards, and the places where it is not are well delineated.
The first chapter provides grounding for understanding the location and political climate of the Magars as an ethnic group in Nepal. It also gives an overview of the changes in gender and literacy, which are expanded upon in the latter parts of the book. The second chapter is used to place Ahearn in the social life of the village, and to explain her methods and their limitations. This chapter is very well done, in that it provides a backdrop to the researcher and her interactions with the village. The third chapter outlines her key terms.
The most important concepts for this book are right in the title: Literacy, love, and social change. Her framework for literacy is a must read, because it informs us about the entirety of the book. She states that she is in favor of dealing with literacy not in the autonomous model, which suggests that all the societies will exhibit the same changes brought about by literacy, but on the ideological model which looks at the specific effects of literacy in a given population. This flavors her later interpretations, as they are consistently aimed only at creating an understanding of this group, rather than an understanding of literacy as whole. This argument is not explicitly touched on throughout the book, but is implicit in many areas.
Social change is of course the core of this work. While this is an apparently transparent concept, it is less well defined when you are actually looking for it, and what constitutes an actual change. For this Ahearn turns to Raymond Williams, who’s concept of “structures of feelings” is used by Ahearn. It is the changes in the thoughts and emotions of the individuals that create a discord with the structures of society, (keeping in mind that structures can of course be in flux as well) that delineate the idea of social change. This change is also not necessarily a rebellion against the existing structures, but change in perceptions relating to them. This foundation serves the work well, and being able to internalize and apply this concept elsewhere would likely be a boon for anyone else doing similar work.
Ahearn supports her argument’s for change by looking at love letters, participant observation and analyzing texts brought into the village by the school and other development efforts. She draws most heavily on her interactions and observations to provide the basis for her analysis of the letters themselves. The letters and other written work are a key aspect of the evidence, however, there is a preponderance of other material addressed that also reflect the changes Ahearn is looking at. I get the impression that this book could have been almost written without the use of the letters at all. That is of course blasphemous, where would a book on societal changes due to literacy be without examples of written production?
Not all of the evidence presented is qualitative, chapter 4 being dedicated to a quantitative approach: A survey tracking marriage trends over time. I found this useful, as without it I’d have been left wondering at the relative scale of these changes.
Overall this was an excellent read, both because of it’s persuasiveness and the overall dedication put into it’s production. It’s incredibly thorough in many regards, and the places where it is not are well delineated.
October 21, 2011
Initially bogged down in tedious theoretical concerns and overwrought jargon, this book comes alive when the voices of the village lovers are examined. Ahearn ably describes the social changes which have taken place in a Nepalese village over the past thirty years; the frankly appalling (non-consensual) "marriages" which women have long been subject to under a strict Hindu caste system have gradually been giving way to a slightly more egalitarian model in which consent between both partners has become more and more prized. The letters analyzed in the book are fascinating resources for attempting to understand the cultural norms and influences which shape conceptions of love in this little community, and Ahearn's love for the people she has come to know through her study shines through every page.
April 25, 2011
One of the best books I ever had to read in Collage. A very well written ethnography, this book makes you realize the consequences and side effects of development work. Is it always a good thing?
April 22, 2012
While interesting in certain parts, I found this book to be quite dry. I understand that it is an ethnography, I just feel that more could have been done to make it a smoother read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews