The Outsider Wife: Integrating a Foreigner into a Bengali Household

This article analyzes the experience of an American woman in her role as a Bengali wife in India. The article explores the integration of the two roles, “outsider” and “wife.” The relationship between the foreign wife and the extended household of which she is a part is viewed as a system within which all participants collaborate in the construction and the maintenance of the role of the “outsider wife.”