women and nationalism Flashcards
british reformers before 1840
Argue that british social reformers bring social change and reform in india – before 1840
arguments for colonising india
Ø India deserved to be colonised as women treated badly
Colonial debates around the abolition of sati (widow burning)
Hyam historiography
Ronald Hyam – empire and sexuality – argues that many parts of empire you can project oriental desire and experioment with your sexuality which you couldn’t in Victorian Britain
quote soldier
Of the prostitutes I have known, perhaps sixty in number, the Japanese easily take the palm. They are scrupulously clean have charming manners and beautiful bodies and take an intelligent interest in proceedings. Also they are not always thinking about money…my list comprises English, French, German, Italian, Bengali, Punjabi, Kashmiri, Kaffir, Sinhalese, Tamil, Burmese, Malay, Japanese, Greek and Pole.
GR an Indian army man in the late nineteenth century in Hyman, Empire and sexuality, 1990
colonialism - patriarchy and capitalism
Amrita Chhachhi historiography
Ø Colonialism and new patriarchy and capitalism
When british introduce more structure in india – cotton mills etc – women join the work force.
This meant women were subject to patriarchies not only exercised at the level of the family but at the level of the state and community.
Also, womens education on rise in 19c - going uni and training to be teachers/doctors
The project of patriarchy did not conflict with the project of capitalism.
Amrita Chhachhi argues:
As women of all classes went out to work they became subject to patriarchies not only exercised at the level of the family but at the level of the community and state
sati
sati
James mill - never visited history but wrote extensively - quote
Colonial debates around the abolition of Sati (Widow burning)- Lata Mani
‘The condition of women is one of the most remarkable circumstances in the manners of nations….the history of uncultivated nations uniformly represents the woman as in a state of abject slavery, from which they slowly emerge as civilisation advances….as society refines upon its enjoyments….the condition of the weaker sex is gradually improved, till they associate on weaker terms with the men and occupy the place of voluntary and useful coadjutors. A state of dependence more strict and humiliating than that which is ordained for the weaker sex among the Hindus cannot be easily conceived’
James Mill, History of India, 1818
NEW PATRIARCHY exercising stronghold on women
how it reasserts itself under the guise of modernity– creating new conditions for patriarchy - sexuality gets policed outside of home – middle class more tread upon – because out to work
patriarchy reasserting itself through nationalism and women
Because colonialism posed q about how indian men treated women. Therefore it became central to debates - the women question.
Early nationalists viewed the women’s question as central to debates on the future of modern india. Family, nation and home is the heart of the debate on the nation
Social reform leaders and sati
Ø Social reform leaders in mid-late 19c like roy – as well as colonisers-built their campaigns against widow immolation to legalise widow remarriage and to abolish polygamy in the mid nineteenth century.
The early nationalists viewed the women’s question as central to the debates on the future of modern India
Social reform leaders such as Ram Mohan Roy, Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar built their campaigns against widow immolation (Sati), to legalise widow remarriage and to abolish polygamy in the mid nineteenth century
How were widows treated
Ø Had to dress in white, couldn’t attended certain festivals because widowed – film called water
Chatterjee - historigraphy
Ø Partha chaterjee belives project of nationalism is to understand how the natin is embodied in the woman. The women themselves became active agents in this debate in the nineteenth century.
The home, I suggest, was not a complementary but rather the original site on which the hegemonic project of nationalism was launched.
Women from the new middle class in nineteenth century India thus became active agents in the nationalist project-complicit in the framing of its hegemonic strategies as much as they were resistant to them because of their surbordination under new forms of patriarchy.
Partha Chatterjee, The nation and its fragments
selective modernisation and women
Later nationalism becomes more conservative and treis to push away modernity and womens rights become seriously debated as a threat ton the nation – selective modernisation
Selective reform by british – they want to reform in some ways for women like sati but not necessadrily with maintenance for example
Mayo and
2 NARRATIVES – ONE Indian women herself - Ramabhai talking about patriarchy from the inside and how one needs to reject it and second western feminist view mayo - religion cloak for prositution - dancers in a mosque?– wrote mother india – heavily criticised by Gandhi because he thought she was similar to james mill by criticising the treatment of india women. Legitimising colonialism to a point. Not welcomed by nationalists.
Western feminists and india
other western feminist more in tune with aspiration of indian middle class women. Involved in womens and liberation, religious, liberal, feminist movements in Europe and us. Linked up with asian women to challenge orthodox ideoplogies, political establishments. Sympathised other victims of repression. Annie besant (wrote book on family planning) condemned – dissenter, feminist, very active in indian national congress.
communal narratives 1940’s
Communal riots of 1940’s. Women seen as sights of tradition has implication with how they arrange themselves following partition
In the communal riots of the 1940s, women occupy a special place in the enactment of violence
In the villages of Junu, Hindus threw their young daughters into wells, dug trenches and buried them alive. Some were burnt to death, some were made to touch electric wires to prevent Muslims from touching them. We heard of such happenings all the time after August 15th. (Testimony of Durga Rani)
