Understanding the labor and politics of NGOs through the lives of seven Indian women Playing with Fire
is written in the collective voice of women employed by a large NGO as
activists in their communities and is based on diaries, interviews, and
conversations among them. Together their personal stories reveal larger
themes and questions of sexism, casteism, and communalism, and a
startling picture emerges of how NGOs both nourish and stifle local
struggles for solidarity.
This
bold experiment in feminist praxis has produced a unique document—at
once earthy, poignant, and biting—about the oppression of caste, gender,
and class in women's lives in India.
— Lila Abu-Lughod, Columbia University
