"Neoliberalization" as Betrayal

" An important contribution to the debate about the institutionalization of women' s education. " - Gendered Perspectives on International Development

" Sharma has written a fascinating book about women' s education and ' empowerment' in India. Grounded in a decade of reflexive, robust ethnography, her provocative work challenges taken-for-granted ways of doing and writing ' third world' feminism. In Sharma' s account, empowerment is less about progressive practices for change and much more about the production of subjects within governance structures. She skillfully weaves women' s own stories and experiences into an engaging and informative account of state authority, feminist expertise, and betrayal under neoliberalism. This is anthropology for the twenty-first century. " - Monica J. Casper, Professor of Women and Gender Studies, Arizona State University and author of The Making of the Unborn Patient: A Social Anatomy of Fetal Surgery

" Sharma writes a convincing portrait of how education policy operates by entangling bureaucrats and program recipients at multiple levels, often producing contradictory outcomes. By examining program failure as ' betrayal, ' she ushers in a new way of thinking about neoliberal development policy. This book is a welcome addition to the scholarship on bureaucracy, development, and gender studies. " - Lamia Karim, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Oregon and author of Microfinance and Its Discontents: Women in Debt inBangladesh