UC Santa Cruz

This dissertation begins to address the academic void at the intersection of education, women, and orphans in India. As educational access in countries like India increases, marginalized students, including women, are entering the classroom in greater numbers. This dissertation contributes to the body of literature which describes the experiences of marginalized students in educational settings, but is unique in its focus on orphan girls. Despite an estimated 20,000,000 Indian orphans, very little is written about the population, much less the subjective ways in which education impacts their lived realities. The qualitative approach of this dissertation provides a window into the experiences of the girls as they encounter educational spaces and discourses. Through ethnographic techniques, including observation, examination of curricular materials, and semi-structured interviews, the 6 month field study focused on the interplay of social factors the influenced conceptions of the “educated Indian woman” within the particular community of Sri Ram Ashram, an orphanage and school located in rural North India. It investigated how educational norms are negotiated within a transnational community where educators from (literally) opposite sides of the world contribute to the socialization of abandoned children.

The dissertation found that education at the ashram is impacted by local, national and transnational discourses that contribute to a hybrid educational environment. Forces within and beyond the context of the local community influence the value laden decisions concerning the nature of education and consequently the cultural production of the “educated Indian woman”.

Ashram girls draw from and negotiate these various, and often contradictory, educational ideals in order to (re)construct their notions of an educated self. Specifically, they navigate conceptions of gender embedded within disparate educational discourses at the ashram. Girls encounter three discourses: 1) Education as Irrelevant; schooling for girls is unnecessary to traditional gender roles. 2) Education for Enhancement; formal schooling prepares women for marriage and motherhood thereby enhancing existing gender roles. 3) Education for Expansion; formal education offers an expansion of woman’s roles and life options.

In addition, aspects of the sociological sphere, such as social and cultural capital, deeply impact the educational experiences and life trajectories of the orphan girls. In a highly stratified society such as India, the girls require access to social capital and alternative forms of socialization in addition to formal schooling in order to transition from traditional to non-traditional gender roles. This process is underpinned by an strong ethic of care within the ashram community which foregrounds caring relationships and a focus on bolstering the status of girls in particular. These often unscrutinized and intangible aspects of girl’s lived realities are central to understanding how education, broadly defined, plays a role in the successful integration of ashram girls into Indian society.