Making the Right Choice : : Narratives of Marriage in Sri Lanka / / Asha L. Abeyasekera.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2021 English
• VerfasserIn: Abeyasekera, Asha L.,
• MitwirkendeR: Berta, Péter,
• Place / Publishing House: New Brunswick, NJ : : Rutgers University Press, , [2021]; ©2021
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Series: Politics of Marriage and Gender: Global Issues in Local Contexts
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (252 p.)
• Other title: Frontmatter --; Contents --; Series Foreword --; Introduction --; 1. Sinhala Marriage: Then and Now --; 2. Making the “Right” Choice --; 3. Structuring the “Right” Choice --; 4. The Virtuous Self: Failed Marriages --; 5. The Valued Self: Singleness --; 6. The Vindicated Self: Divorce --; Conclusion --; Acknowledgments --; Notes --; References --; Index
• Format: Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
• ISBN: 9781978810341; 9783110754001; 9783110753776; 9783110754186; 9783110753967; 9783110739138
• DOI: 10.36019/9781978810341
• Access: restricted access
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: Asha L. Abeyasekera.

Making the Right Choice unravels the entangled relationship between marriage, morality, and the desire for modernity as it plays out in the context of middle-class status concerns and aspirations for upward social mobility within the Sinhala-Buddhist community in urban Sri Lanka. By focusing on individual life-histories spanning three generations, the book illuminates how narratives about a gendered self and narratives about modernity are mutually constituted and intrinsically tied to notions of agency. The book uncovers how "becoming modern" in urban Sri Lanka, rather than causing inter-generational conflict, is a collective aspiration realized through the efforts of bringing up educated and independent women capable of making "right" choices. The consequence of this collective investment is a feminist conundrum: agency does not denote the right to choose, but the duty to make the "right" choice; hence agency is experienced not as a sense of "freedom," but rather as a burden of responsibility.