Author: Uma ChakravartiPublisher: Kali/ZubaanYear: 2006Language: EnglishPages: 402ISBN/UPC (if available): 8185107793
Description
This book outlines the life, work and times of Pandita Ramabai, one of India's earliest feminists. It examines the manner in which the colonial state's new institutional structures, cast contestations, class formation and nationalism transformed and reorganized gender relations. It also explores the nature of the new agendas being set for women, how these were received by them and in what ways and to what extent their consent to these reconstructed patriarchies was produced. The author shows that while many women were ready to act as willing reproducers of caste, class and gender norms, there were others who withheld consent to the dominant model of patriarchy emerging in the nineteenth century. She argues that certain processes in nineteenth century Maharashtra created the conditions for a fairly sharp critique of patriarchy to emerge, a unique feature for its time.
Contents
PrologueCHAPTER ICaste, Gender and the State in Eighteenth Century MaharashtraCHAPTER IICast Contestation Class Formation, Nationalism and GenderCHAPTER IIILaw, Colonial State and GenderCHAPTER IVMen, Women and the Embattled FamilyCHAPTER VOn Widowhood : The Critique of Cultural Practices in Women's WritingCHAPTER VIStructure and Agency : A Life and a TimeBibliographyIndex
