Gender Relations in Forest Societies in Asia

Govind Kelkar is Coordinator, IFAD–UNIFEM Gender Mainstreaming Programme in Asia, New Delhi, and the founding Editor of the journal Gender, Technology and Development. She has previously taught at Delhi University, the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, and the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, Thailand where she also founded the graduate programme in Gender and Development Studies. Dr Kelkar has previously co-authored Gender and Tribe: Women, Land and Forests (1991), and co-edited Feminist Challenges in the Information Age (2002), and Gender Relations in Forest Societies in Asia: Patriarchy at Odds (2003). Dr Kelkar is a frequent consultant to IFAD, Rome, UNIFEM, New Delhi and other UN organizations on mainstreaming gender in development besides being a keynote speaker at many related conferences.Dev Nathan, an economist by training, is, Senior Visiting Fellow, Institute for Human Development, New Delhi. He is also a columnist and a regular contributor to the Economic and Political Weekly. Dr Nathan has previously co-authored Gender and Tribe: Women, Land and Forests (1991), Assessment of Rural Poverty in Asia and the Pacific (2002), edited From Tribe to Caste (1997), and co-edited Gender Relations in Forest Societies in Asia: Patriarchy at Odds (2003). Dr Nathan frequently serves as a consultant to IFAD, Rome, several UN organizations and ICIMOD, Kathmandu, on issues of rural poverty and the development of indigenous peoples.Pierre Walter is Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Studies, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Dr Walter’s research interests include literacy, immigrant and extension education, comparative education and policy studies, alternative education, Asian studies and gender and development. He has contributed numerous articles to leading scholarly journals, besides serving as an Assistant Editor of Gender, Technology and Development. He has co-edited Gender Relations in Forest Societies in Asia: Patriarchy at Odds (2003).

• Foreword - Phrang RoyIntroduction - Govind Kelkar et alPART ONE: HISTORY AND MYTHGender Roles in History: Women as Hunters - K S SinghThe Fireplace: Gender and Culture among Yunnan Nationalities - Yang FaquanNaxi Nature Goddesses Archetype - Xi YuhuaAppropriation of Women′s Indigenous Knowledge: The Case of the Matrilineal Lua in Northern Thailand - Cholthira SatyawadhanaGender Relations and Witches among the Indigenous Communities of Jharkhand, India - Samar Bosu MullickPART TWO: FOREST MANAGEMENTForest Management in Mosua Matrilineal Society, Yunnan, China - He ZhonghuaNaxi Women: Protection and Management of Forests in Lijiang, China - Yang Fuquan and Xi YuhuaBobolizan, Forests and Gender Relations in Sabah, Malaysia - Paul PorodongWomen and Matriliny: Transformations in Gender Relations: Transformations in Gender Relations - Tiplut NongbriWomen and Forest: A Study of the Warlis of Western India - Indra MunshiEmpowerment and Disempowerment of Forest Women in Uttarakhand, India - Madhu SarinIndex

The contributors of this important volume explore the changes in gender relations within indigenous communities, from matrilineal or gender egalitarian systems to ones where male domination is the norm… This quest will contribute to the Millennium Development Goals of achieving gender equality and halving rural poverty by 2015. This volume is an invaluable addition to the literature which will help researchers and policy-makers in gender studies, natural resource management, and conservation by providing invaluable insights into the lives of forest dwellers in Asia.