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In patriarchal society, men work in the public domain and women are restricted to the private domestic sphere. Since it is the public domain which is considered important, women become passive participants in the historical process. This is reflected in the lack of any substantial and substantive documentation about them. Just like class or race, sex has been used to create a separate identity for men and women. By studying the history of men, as if this would cover the women also, we cannot find out the realities of women’s lives during any given period. Gender like any group, class or race has always been a very powerful factor in history. It is therefore necessary to view the development of women’s history from a feminist perspective; as a distinct sociological group which experiences both overt and covert controls through legal, political and social restrictions.

The present book Gender and History comprises of twenty-eight selected papers from the session on history organized at the 12th Women’s World Congress held in Hyderabad in 2014. Focusing on different regions and different timeframes, these essays highlight the writing of history from a feminist perspective and focus on a hitherto neglected area in mainstream history. Whenever women sought to question inequalities in their own lives, they turned to history to understand the roots of their oppression and to see if they can learn from the challenges that had been made in the past. These articles clearly bring home the truth that women functioned under various challenges and limitation of a patriarchal society and it can be shown that a woman’s role is socially constructed within a specific historical context, rather than natural and universal contexts.

CONTENTS

Gender and History: An Introduction

1. Back to Basics: Patriarchy, Gender and Agency / Geraldine Forbes

2. From Princely Subjects to the Threshold of Postcolonial Dawn: The Long Journey of Women in Deccan during the Rule of the Asaf Jahis / Rekha Pande

3. Post Land Reform Era of Rural West Bengal: Gendered Access to Land Resources / Dipannita Bhattacharjee

4. Political Culture within Gendered Bracket: Bengal – Its History and Literature / Shruti Goswami

5. Contribution of Indian Female Instrumentalists in the Development of Musical Heritage of India / Dipanwita Tripathi Roy

6. Role of Gender Performance in the Construction of Body: The Case of Women’s Practices in Kalaripayattu – A Martial Art of Kerala / Ashitha M.

7. The Upper Cloth Movement in the Nineteenth Century Kerala Society / S. Archana

8. Women and Impurity in Medieval Kerala / Nimitha K.P.

9. Sukasaptati: A Study of Gender through Early Modern Telugu Literature / Kishore Kumar S.

10. Significance of Women in Sufi Traditions / Rashmi Batchu

11. Women, Witches and Woes / Namrata Handique

12. Women and the Changing Food Culture in Angami Naga Society / Vitsou Yano

13. Glorious Motherhood: An Existentialist Approach of Womanhood in Early Twentieth Century Bengal / Madhumita Tarafder

14. The Insurgent(’s) Wife: Reading Kaberi Kochari’s Account of Her Life in a Rebel’s Outfit / Mukuta Borah

15. Securing Livelihoods: Experiences of the Mothers of Ex-Combatants in Post-conflict Nepal / Luna K.C.

16. Making of ‘Progressive Indian Womanhood’: Missionary Attempts in Colonial Punjab / Manpreet Kaur

17. Sociocultural Restrictions and Establishment of Community Maternity Hospitals in Bombay Presidency (1886–1945) / Meherjyoti Sangle

18. Women’s Perceptions of Education in Colonial Maharashtra / Meshram Pradhnya Prabhu

19. Medieval Textile Production and Women: The Unacknowledged Labour Force / T. Prathima

20. Gandhi on Women Empowerment: Equality and Individuality / Himanshu Bourai

21. A Micro Study of Women in Underworld: An Indian Perspective / Tumpa Mukherjee

22. ‘Baby Wife, Girl Mother, Virgin Widow’: The Body of the Hindu Girl Child in Colonial Bengal / Chandrava Chakravarty

23. Women Stereotypes in the Naxal Movement in India / Anjana Singh

24. Women and Famines: Their Experiences, Roles and Responses: A Case Study of North-western Provinces and Awadh / Seema Srivastava

25. Khas-Brahmin Women in Feudal Sikkim as Reflected in the Folk Compositions / Rajen Upadhyay

26. Health Propaganda: The Role of National Baby and Health Weeks in Colonial South India / V. Raj Mahammadh

27. Commodification, Exploitation and Survival: A Glimpse of African American Women in the Reconstruction Era (1865–1877) / Ann Denkler

28. The Modern-National Language Debate and Tawaifs of Late Colonial India / Meenal Tula.