Principal investigator: Dr. Federica Riva.
The research, which begins with an anthropological analysis of agricultural rituals, is focused on the symbolic meaning linked to gender roles in the Himalayan rural environment: spaces, images, taboo that define the social values and cultural restriction to the female intervention in agriculture. In fact, a deeper comprehension of the social and cultural dimension of the agricultural practices in the mountainous environment could be useful in order to better understand the material and symbolic gender dynamics at the local level that restrict female participation to the process of agricultural transformation in the Himalaya. Indeed, it will help in identifying the socio-cultural constraints which prevent women’s access to control and/or ownership of the means of agricultural production.