Reconstructing the history of women's participation in the nationalist movement in India, 1905-1945
The nationalist struggle in India against British colonial rule brought about the political mobilisation of both men and women. The nationalist leaders required the participation of women in the nationalist movement because the movement's importance and success was dependent on women's contribution to and involvement in it. While the existing research has contributed to my understanding of women's interaction with political life in India, this study attempts to reconstruct the dominant interpretations on women's political involvement. In doing so, it deconstructs concepts such as 'active', 'private', 'public' and 'political'. The argument in this thesis is shaped through three inter-related themes. First, it problematises women's emergence into the public sphere from a purdah-bound domestic existence. Secondly, it locates the domestic as an equally important site of nationalist activities as the public sphere. Thirdly, in the light of the above themes, it is suggested that dichotomous concepts such as public/private do not help to explain the interaction between these spheres, which facilitated the complex process of women's emergence in the public sphere. Moreover, the associated concepts of political/apolitical
Thapar-BjĂ¶rkert, Suruchi
DS Asia
Reconstructing the history of women's participation in the nationalist movement in India, 1905-1945. The nationalist struggle in India against British colonial rule brought about the political mobilisation of both men and women. The nationalist leaders required the participation of women in the nationalist movement because the movement's importance and success was dependent on women's contribution to and involvement in it. While the existing research has contributed to my understanding of women's interaction with political life in India, this study attempts to reconstruct the dominant interpretations on women's political involvement. In doing so, it deconstructs concepts such as 'active', 'private', 'public' and 'political'. The argument in this thesis is shaped through three inter-related themes. First, it problematises women's emergence into the public sphere from a purdah-bound domestic existence. Secondly, it locates the domestic as an equally important site of nationalist activities as the public sphere. Thirdly, in the light of the above themes, it is suggested that dichotomous concepts such as public/private do not help to explain the interaction between these spheres, which facilitated the complex process of women's emergence in the public sphere. Moreover, the associated concepts of political/apolitical
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