ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the experiences and negotiations made by the Bangladeshi women in two correctional homes in Kolkata, India, charged under section 14 of the Foreigners Act 1946, in the process of moving across national and socio-cultural spaces. This discussion is centred upon the concept of ‘honour’ and how that interplays in the national and socio-cultural spaces that they traverse. The notion of honour functions at multiple levels and, more often than not, gets entangled with questions of sexuality. Women’s sexuality is perceived to be the lynchpin of the honour of the family, society, and the state. Women moving across familial, societal, and political borders are perceived to break the norms of expected behaviour. In this context, the chapter will explore the ways in which the norms of honour facilitate or impede women’s mobility and sense of agency.
