In the 1980s, gender was acknowledged as a useful and necessary category of analysis. The first generation of feminist scholars defined the new field and provided a rich corpus of works; later generations of scholars and activists then expanded it through their writings on culture, film and media, and sexuality.
Thinking Gender, Doing Gender focuses on these issues, as well as on pedagogy and classroom practice, theoretical obstacles created by disciplinary constraints, and practices in the performing arts from a gender perspective. This volume focuses more on doing gender rather thinking gender: in classrooms, in the making of curricula, in the writing and recall of history, in reading literature and cinema, and in the practice of culture in theatre and urban spaces.
Together, the essays discuss:
As this volume documents, doing gender holds rich possibilities for thinking about gender. Its engaging and insightful discussions make it an invaluable addition to the corpus of feminist writing, and will be useful to students and scholars of women’s studies, sociology and culture studies.
Uma Chakravarti is a feminist historian who taught at Miranda House, Delhi University for over three decades. She writes on early Indian history, the 19th century and on contemporary issues. She has been associated with the women's movement and the movement for democratic rights since the early 1980s and in this capacity she has been part of many investigations into communal and caste based violence and state violence in conflict zones.
Introduction
Section I: Feminist Pedagogies
1.Education as Truttiya Ratna: Phule, Ambedkar and Pedagogical Practice Sharmila Rege
2. Women, Men and Others in the Class and in the Past: The Challenges of Mainstreaming Gender in History Kumkum Roy
3. Reading Gender in School Textbooks: The Tussle Between Tradition and Modernity Dipta Bhog, Disha Mullick and Purwa Bharadwaj
4. Chatra Prabhodhan: Tacking Modern Education to Tradition Swati Dyahadroy
5. Feminist Activism in the Pedagogy and Practice of Science: An Interactionist Approach Chayanika Shah
Section II: History and Memory
6. Feminist Epistemology and Oral History as Method Mahua Sarkar
7. The ‘Man-Made’ Famine and Women’s Responses to Hunger: The Pivotal Dynamics of Food in the Tebhaga Movement Kavita Panjabi
8. Memory as Ritual, Memory as Renewal: Some Thoughts on Feminist History-writing V. Geetha
Section III: Along the Bylanes: Reading Culture, Doing Culture
9. Devadasi and/or ‘Prostitute’: Analysing ‘Jogtin Prostitute’ in Post-colonial Rural Maharashtra Anagha Tambe
10. ‘Mitro Marjani’: Recasting Women and Subversion Shubhra Nagalia
11. Gender and Commodity Aesthetics in Tamilnadu 1950–70 S. Anandhi
12. Reimagining Nation: Redefining Region and Gender and Identity in the Cinema of the 1950s Vaishali Diwakar
13. Women in Theatre: Journeys From ‘Respectability’ to Agency Lata Singh
14. Staging Feminist Theatre A. Mangai
15. Building Blocks: Casting a Woman’s Eye on the Built Environment Vani Subramanium
About the Editor and Contributors Index