ABSTRACT
Clément: How does Jana Sanskriti aim to solve traditional problems in the villages, such as patriarchy?
Sanjoy: I’m struggling to answer your question. For example, when you ask a question on tradition, then we must ask: ‘what is tradition?’ Tradition is something that has been happening for a long time. What do we mean by a long time? For example, when you are addressing domestic violence, that is not always a product of tradition. In many ways, capitalism plays a role. You see, patriarchy has existed during feudalism, capitalism and modern capitalism. So that means that sometimes some cultural values continue even though there are noticeable radical changes in the economy. If you look at socalled socialist economies like China, Soviet Russia, for example, they went through a radically different economy for a substantial period of time but patriarchy was there. Domestic violence was there. The vindictive attitude towards women by men was there. That means the system, for its own sustenance, doesn’t rely only on economy, it constructs the cultural values, and this sometimes means keeping values that have been in practice for ages. So if you identify an existing patriarchal relationship between men and women, can you call it traditional? Because it existed at every phase of the economy and it still exists. You can see that there are rapes and aggression against women happening all over the world. Patriarchy in the Western sense is seen only from a gender perspective. But patriarchy is also manifested in authoritarianism, dictatorship and centralisation. The world has witnessed women patriarchs like Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, and many others. So patriarchy has many other dimensions besides gender.
