This session was a part of the inaugural conference of the Biographic Narrative and Lifecourse Research (BNLR) Study Group of the Sociological Association of Ireland. My paper titled,"Interplay between habitus and reflexivity in agential responses to marital violence" which is a part of my PhD thesis, was based on qualitative data from the Kamrup (Metropolitan) district in the North-eastern state of Assam in India. This paper attempted to underline the ‘voice’ or agency of women facing violence in heterosexual marital relationships through the structure and agency dialectic. By asserting that both habitus and reflexivity act as mediators between structure and agency, data from the study demonstrates the prioritisation of both in agential responses, as women deal with structure (which spans across individual, interactional and institutional levels). It also demonstrates the temporal changes that occur in agential responses, contingent upon the varied (form, intensity, frequency) experience of violence, the distinct material – cultural realities of individual respondent, and the emotions that one feels at a given point in time. Data also indicates a tension attributed to a possible state of transition of the Assamese society owing to multiple factors which has brought in certain changes in the existing social milieu within which violence in marital relationships is located. Although these changes have led to greater visibility of women in the workforce and relatively higher educational aspirations, it has not led to major changes in societal expectations of women as a daughter, wife, mother or daughter in law, exacerbating conflict between generations.