ABSTRACT
This chapter examines changing patterns of gender identities in the context of Gulf migration in a Muslim community in southern India. Originally a predominantly fishing community located on the southwest coast of India, Beemapally has undergone a dramatic transformation through labour migration to the Persian Gulf region. Dislocations within the local fishing economy, along with male migration to the Gulf and prosperity from Gulf remittances, have transformed economic relations and gender roles within households. Furthermore, Pan-Islamism and pressures on Muslim communities from the rise of Hindu nationalism within India have generated a stronger identification with transnational Islam than seems to have existed in previous generations. Drawing on recent fieldwork conducted in this community, this chapter examines the ways in which masculine and feminine identities are articulated in the context of these economic and cultural transformations. In doing so, it discusses the intersection of gender with class and place, as well as notes the interrelationship between masculinity and femininity in this particular context.
