Feminism and Nationalism in India, 1917-1947

Basu, Aparna

doi:10.1353/jowh.2010.0459

Cited by 15 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…For example, the struggle for attire decency was a missionary-induced struggle that provided the Nadar women a public space to advance their assertions of equality, justice, dignity and decency (Hardgrave 1968). In fact, from the 1820s until the first war of Indian independence of 1857, the direct missionary encounters with marginalized women were evidently noticeable where modernization endeavours had become the centre stage (Basu 1995).…”

Section: 'Sheep In the Midst Of Ravaging Wolfs'mentioning

confidence: 99%

Religions, Women and Discourse of Modernity in Colonial South India

Doss

2022

Religions

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Colonial education and missionary discourse of modernity intensified struggles for continuity and change among the followers of Hinduism and Christianity in nineteenth century India. While missionary modernity was characterised by an emphasis on sociocultural changes among the marginalized women through Christian norms of decency, orthodox Hindus used traditional cultural practices to confront missionary modernization endeavours. This article posits that the discourse of missionary modernity needs to be understood through the principles of Western secular modernity that impelled missionaries to employ decent clothing as a symbol of Christian femininity. It argues that missionary modernity not only emboldened the marginalized women to challenge their ascribed sociocultural standing but also solidified communitarian consciousness among the followers of Hinduism and Christianity substantially. Even though Travancore state defended the entrenched customary practices, including women’s attire patterns, with all its potency through authoritative proclamations, it could not dissuade missionaries from converting the marginalized women to missionary modernity.

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Section: 'Sheep In the Midst Of Ravaging Wolfs'mentioning

confidence: 99%

Religions, Women and Discourse of Modernity in Colonial South India

Doss

2022

Religions

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“…Cross-cultural studies of women's organisations suggest that the utopian quest of 'western' feminism for the creation of autonomous, egalitarian, collective associations of women retains some currency in both Euro-North America, India and other cross-cultural settings (Agnew 1997;Basu 1995;Bulbeck 1998;Flew 1999;Gedalof 1999). Yet, more often, women's organisations are situated within social movements, political organisations and state initiatives, and are also 'directed' by these agenda (Molyneux 1998: 229).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This positions women in complex relations of hierarchy, alliance, solidarity and struggle for the definition of social issues as gendered, and the articulation of their identities in terms of relations of race, gender, region, class, caste and the dynamics of globalisation. Women's participation in social movements, and particularly in nationalist movements, can generate struggle and ambivalence when their identities and participation as women, as feminists, as nationalists, or as members of a social group create contradictions that are difficult to reconcile (Agnew 1997;Basu 1995;Trask 1996;West 1992).…”

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confidence: 99%

'Four makes society': Women's organisation, Dravidian nationalism and women's interpretation of caste, gender and change in South India

George

2002

Contributions to Indian Sociology

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The proliferation of women's organisations, particularly those attached to larger social movements or state initiatives, necessitates ethnographically situated examinations of the way women's issues and gendered experiences are constituted and understood within specific cultural contexts. This article examines a women's organisation in South India, which is linked to a Dravidian social movement. I explore the way the movement repro duces and challenges the social terrain on which some women are expected to participate in reforming Tamil society. The reformist character of the movement evokes ambivalent responses by women to key elements of its ideology, which calls for the dismantling of caste, and an end to Hindu hegemony characterised by religious dogmatism and Brah minical superiority. The incorporation of feminist discourse into their ideology signals the transnational character of regionally based movements, and provokes further con sideration of the way feminist discourse itself is deployed cross-culturally, and its effect in challenging social inequalities and/or maintaining social and economic differences.

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Four Histories of Social Mobilizations: Dandi, Dharasana, Montgomery, Manila, and Rangoon

Delina

2019

Emancipatory Climate Actions

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Feminism and Nationalism in India, 1917-1947

Cited by 15 publications

References 1 publication

Religions, Women and Discourse of Modernity in Colonial South India

Religions, Women and Discourse of Modernity in Colonial South India

'Four makes society': Women's organisation, Dravidian nationalism and women's interpretation of caste, gender and change in South India

Four Histories of Social Mobilizations: Dandi, Dharasana, Montgomery, Manila, and Rangoon

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