Gender and the Politics of Feminism in South Asia

4 credits · Undergraduate

“Feminist history” is a term that encompasses a wide and rich range of histories of ideas, issues, movements, and contemporary controversies. In this seminar we will examine the history of feminist movements, anthropological descriptions of South Asian women’s lives and cultures, political tracts on contemporary issues with older genealogies, and historical/anthropological monographs dealing with specific scandals associated with women’s bodies, such as dowry murders, or honor killings. The seminar will progress thematically rather than geographically, and will address issues specific to the lives of women in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, from the early modern period through partition, and the post-nationalist milieu.