“Semiotics of Rape is simply stunning. It is an honest, provocative, and searing ethnography of rape in rural Haryana. In unpacking women’s subjectivities under conditions of violence, it is a powerful exposition of how women’s subjectivities are forged by multiple scripts of rape at different scales ranging from the intimate to the bureaucratic. In doing so, Rupal Oza has unleashed the power of feminist critical geography to analyze the political economy of rape in India.” - Pratiksha Baxi, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India
“Exploring how rape is entangled with and shapes broader politics of caste, gender, and land, Rupal Oza considers the political, social, and economic antecedents and consequences of sexual violence. Urgent and beautifully written, this important and brilliant book allows us to understand the complex and unexpected ways in which survivors are able to find some measure of agency in contexts of ongoing intimate and structural violence. It will immediately appeal to feminist scholars, anthropologists of South Asia, and scholars of the law and the state, caste, and rural and agrarian studies.” - Radhika Govindrajan, author of Animal Intimacies: Interspecies Relatedness in India’s Central Himalayas
"This poignant, timely, and urgent discussion of rape and sexual politics in rural India, Oza underscores that Dalit women’s bodies, often marked by the problematic images of vigilante justice, are defined by their sexual subjectivity and are not victims. Instead, they are complex sexual subjects which assert their choices in rape cases. . . . Oza’s monograph, therefore, makes an important contribution to the fields of gender, women’s and sexuality studies, transnational studies, anthropology, and South Asian studies. It will also be helpful for introductory feminist theory graduate courses." - Nidhi Shrivastava, South Asian Review
"An interesting read for scholars pursuing research on gender/women’s studies, sexuality, and related topics. Policymakers should find this book interesting to sensitise authorities dealing with cases of violence against women." - Rituparna Bhattacharyya, Asian Studies Review
"The book provides a bold perspective from which to understand sexual violence and deserves serious discussion amongst scholars and activists, as it broadens our understanding of what justice could be." - Gagan Preet Singh, Asian Journal of Law and Society
"Semiotics of Rape is a powerful and timely contribution to geography, which will doubtless make a major contribution to geographical subfields and is very likely to travel well beyond geography." - Rhys Machold, AAG Review of Books
"Beyond Indian society, this book is a must-read for everyone who seeks to scrutinize institutions which uphold ideals that actively discriminate against specific groups of people on the basis of their cultural and political identities. Additionally, lawyers, activists, and scholars in the field of women’s studies and those actively working to give voice to victims of rape and sexual violence will find the book incredibly useful in understanding the psychology of survivors and the communities in which they reside." - Nikita Puri, Journal of International Women's Studies
"Through her compelling and empathetic writing, Oza brings forth the narratives of survivors and allows us to reimagine possibilities of justice in an unequal and stratified society, making this book a significant addition to works on sexual violence, particularly in India. Semiotics of Rape by Rupal Oza does the important work of capturing and documenting perhaps the most important narrative of all—the voice and subjectivity of the victim/survivor of sexual violence in contemporary India."
- Sukanya Bhattacharya, Crime Media Culture
"Rupal's book pushes us to look beyond words such as victim and survivor and how the language around sexual violence cases often concretises stereotypes and patriarchal systems. It is a much-needed reminder of how women assert their autonomy and refuse to be defined by violence." - Namita Bhandare, Hindustan Times
"Rupal's book pushes us to look beyond words such as victim and survivor and how the language around sexual violence cases often concretises stereotypes and patriarchal systems. It is a much-needed reminder of how women assert their autonomy and refuse to be defined by violence." - Neha Dixit, Hindustan Times
"This is a sophisticated work of theory that I hope will be widely read and taught for its insights about sexuality, power, and meaning making." - Julia Kowalski, Journal of Gender Studies
"Oza adeptly interweaves the various facets—consent, compromise, land, and death—to demonstrate the injustices that are deepened in the violation of Dalit women’s bodies." - Simanti Dasgupta, Pacific Affairs
