Overview

As the essays in this volume show, feminist writing has opened up ways of questioning and reinterpreting not only social life but also academic disciplines. The essays, themselves drawn from various disciplines and regions, explore epics, oral traditions, folksongs, puranic myths, prov-erbs, women’s letters, autobiographies, tribal practices, field-based information and archival sources in new and provocative ways. They bring out a range of patriarchal configurations of social reform, of work and family, the gendering of consumption, the relationship between state formations, caste and class stratification, colonial educational policies, new developmental paradigms and transformations in gender relations. In the Introduction, the editors locate these essays, not only in wider contexts, both past and present, but, more significantly, within the profounder problematic of patterns of persistence and change within patriarchies on the subcontinent. This as yet underexplored problematic they argue has the capacity to change many conventional notions of periodisation and historical transition.

Full Product Details

Author:   Kumkum Sangari ,  Uma Chakravarti
Publisher:   Manohar Publishers and Distributors
Imprint:   Manohar Publishers and Distributors
Weight:   0.900kg
ISBN:  

9788185952604

ISBN 10:   8185952604
Pages:   426
Publication Date:   20 October 2025
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

Preface Disparate Women: Transitory Contexts, Persisting Structures Decentering a Patriarchal Myth: Bhisham Sahni's Madhavi The King's Household: Structure and Space in the S'a-stric Tradition Women and the 'Domestic' in Tamil Folk Songs Divine Family and World Maintenance: Ganega in the Bengal Puranas A Book of Her Own. A Life of Her Own: Autobiography of a Nineteenth-century Women Realities and Reflections: Personal Narratives of two Women from Nineteenth-century Maharashtra Women's Education in the Madras Presidency: Issues of Class and Patriarchy Gender and the Logic of Brahminism: Periyar and the Politics of the Female Body Transitory Residents, Invisible Workers: Rethinking Locality and Incorporation in a Rajasthan Village Ideology, Culture and Hierarchy: Expenditure-Consumption Patterns in Rural Households Gender in Neo-Classical Economics: A Conceptual Overview Analysing Women's Work Under Patriarchy Patriarchy and State Systems in North-East India: A Historical and Critical Perspective Women's Empowerment: Paradigms and Paradoxes Interrogating Psychology: Some Feminist Issues and Implication Notes on Contributors

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Author Information

Uma Chakravarti teaches history at Miranda House, Delhi University. She has worked on both ancient and modern India, and written on issues of caste, labour and gender. Among her published works are Social Dimensions of Early Buddhism and Rewriting History: The Life and Times of Pandita Ramabai. Kumkum Sangari teaches English at Indraprastha College, Delhi University, and is at present a fellow at the Centre for Contemporary Studies, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. She has written on British, American and Indian literature, on critical theory and on gender issues such as labour, law, widow immolation. Among her published and edited works are Politics of the Possible: Essays in Gender, History, Narrative, Colonial English and Recasting Women: Essays in Colonial History. For the past two decades, both Uma Chakravarti and Kumkum Sangari have been active in women’s issues and democratic rights.

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