Recasting Women: Essays in Indian Colonial History

by Kumkum Sangari (Editor), Sudesh Vaid (Editor)

"This collection fills a very long felt need, a fact which is reinforced by the generally very high quality of the contributions and the fast-growing reputation in international feminist circles of many of the authors."--Arjun Appadurai, University of Pennsylvania

The political and social life of India in the last decade has given rise to a variety of questions concerning the nature and resilience of patriarchal systems in a transitional and post-colonial society. The contributors to this interdisciplinary volume recognize that every aspect of reality is gendered, and that such a recognition involves a dismantling of the ideological presuppositions of the so-called gender neutral ideologies, as well as the boundaries of individual disciplines.

The first set of essays seeks to analyze the patriarchal discourses of a colonial society and includes an analysis of the shaping of Hindu-Aryan identity, the parameters of the discourse on widow-immolation, the "defeminization" of popular culture in nineteenth-century urban Calcutta, the nature of the reforms proposed by early women's journals in Hindi, and the implications of the nationalist movement and of Indo-Anglian leterature on middle-class patriarchal norms.

The second set of articles relates to women of the productive classes--the reconstitution of patriarchies in the agrarian transition in Haryana, in the Oudh peasant movement, in the armed peasant struggle in Telangana, and among the working class in Bengal. The contributors explore the interrelation of patriarchies with political economy, law, religion, and culture, and suggest a different history of "reform" movements, and of class and gender relations.
 

Genres: India, Feminism, Nonfiction, History, Historical, Gender, Womens

384 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1990

Reviews

[Conrad Barwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic collection of essays by leading scholars, published first in 1989 it is still highly relevant to gender issues today in India. Mostly based on a literary and historical account of women's experiences in Bengal from the 19th to mid-20th century, it nonetheless covers many key issues affecting women in the rest of the country.

[Becca w · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the first volumes focusing solely on women and gender in colonial India—glad I finally read it! A couple of the essays will be super helpful for me, and they all help clarify the convergences and consequences of colonial patriarchy and power with indigenous structures and society

[d · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book contains some of the most important text i've ever read in the entirety of the 17 years of my existence

[Bidisha Banerjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The essay "Whatever Happened to the Vedic Dasi" changed my life back in 2002. Great to read it again a decade later and realize how much vitality and energy the piece continues to have.