Women in the Indian national movement : unseen faces and unheard voices, 1930-1942

This book examines the participation of the women of North India in the Indian nationalist movement, portraying how women′s lives were significantly affected and reshaped by their involvement in the freedom struggle. The author discusses how women′s participation in this mass movement was encouraged by `the domestication of the public sphere′ so that they could enter the public domain without being alienated from their domestic lives. She argues that the raised consciousness engendered by women′s participation in the freedom struggle paved the way for a gradually evolving idea of women′s emancipation. "Most studies of the role of women in the Indian national movement have concentrated on the contribution made by only a handful of prominent women leaders such as Sarojini Naidu, Vijaylakshmi Pandit, Sucheta Kripalani and Aruna Asaf Ali. Less acknowledged but equally forceful was the participation of hundreds of women at the local level - out in the streets as well as inside their homes. This book, significantly, focuses on the nationalist participation of ordinary middle-class women in India's freedom movement, especially in the United Provinces (modern Uttar Pradesh)." "To construct the nationalist narrative of unheard voices, the author goes beyond conventional sources of history such as official and archival records. Instead, she employs a diverse range of materials - including oral narratives, poetry, cartoons, vernacular magazines and private correspondence - in order to let these women speak for themselves." Most studies of the role of women in the Indian national movement have concentrated o n the contribution made by only a handful of prominent women leaders such as Sarojini Naidu, Vijaylakshmi Pandit, Sucheta Kripalani and Aruna Asaf Ali. Less acknowledge but equally forceful was the participation of hundreds of women at the local level- out in the streets as well as inside their homes. This book, significantly, focuses on the nationalist participation of ordinary middle-class women in India's freedom movement, especially in the United Provinces (modern Uttar Pradesh) Cover Contents List of Tables and Figures Foreword Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction Chapter 1 Theoretical Engagements and Disengagements Chapter 2 Political Environment in India Chapter 3 Private Values and Public Lives Chapter 4 The Colonial Prison Chapter 5 Politicisation of the Domestic Sphere Chapter 6 Re-negotiating the Boundaries of Identity and Domesticity Conclusion Glossary Bibliography Index About the Author Theoretical engagements and disengagements Political environment in India Private values and public lives : the domestication of public participation The colonial prison Politicisation of the domestic sphere Re-negotiating the boundaries of identity and domesticity. This text examines the participation of the women of North India in the Indian nationalist movement, portraying how women's lives were significantly affected and reshaped by their involvement in the freedom struggle