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Volume 1 Issue 3 |
August 2014 |
| Voices of Dissent: A Study of Feminist Texts of Colonial India | |
| Ms. Chetna, Researcher, Department of English, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, , |
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| Abstract | |
| Women emancipation was foremost in the agenda of reformist movement in late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The normative image of high caste Aryan woman was created as a result of the interaction of the feminist movement with nationalist discourse and forced the women to live up to the constructed ideals of womanhood. As a rebuttal to the assumed submissiveness of early Indian feminism, I have cited the works of Tarabai Shinde (Stri-Purush Tulana [A Comparison between Women and Men], 1882), Pandita Ramabai (The High Caste Hindu Woman, 1886) and Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (Istrijatir Abanati [Women’s Downfall], 1905). They reflect intellectual feminist voices sensitive to the patriarchal manoeuvrings, voicing fearlessly their views on gender equality and contributing to an alternate discourse. Bringing in the cross textual references and ‘micro-narratives’, the study would question the male hegemony, while highlighting the need for the re-appraisal of marginalized body of literature that existed in colonial India. | |
| Keywords | |
| Early Indian feminism, nationalism, reform movements, motherhood, patriarchy. | |
| Article | |
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