The study is largely done using a gender lens and looks at how Dhangar women articulate kinship in the past and in the present. This information is recorded through in-depth interviews with mother-daughter pairs from the selected families. The Dhangars of Maharashtra are a nomadic pastoralist community. They continue to herd their animals, mainly sheep, across the western ghats and the Deccan plateau despite multiple socio-economic changes, including major changes in land use patterns, employment opportunities, access to services, and aspirational changes. Several Dhangars regularly leave pastoralism. Many return to it after a few years, finding herding a better livelihood as compared to other occupations. Over the years, the breed of sheep they rear has gradually changed from the black Deccani, a coarse wool sheep, to Madgyal, a hairy mutton breed. Patterns of migration have also changed both in terms of composition and routes. Women and children often travel with the herds, although more recently, women are staying back to take care of the elderly or to enable their children to go to school. Marriage alliances in Dhangar families tend to be endogamous. Several alliances are made between families who can comfortably herd and travel together. Cross-cousin marriages are very common. Child marriage is a common practice, and so is bigamy, although both are no more legally acceptable in India. Today, school-educated girls from Dhangar communities are challenging these norms and refusing marriage alliances with men who are mobile or who are less educated than them.
