Women in the Indian National Movement
Unseen Faces and Unheard Voices, 1930-42
- Suruchi Thapar-Bjorkert - University of Bristol, UK
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.
"Among the most valuable contributions this book makes is its attention to regional diversity and specificity. Thapar-Bjorkert succeeds in making visible new dimensions of women's participation in twentieth century India nationalism. She also manages to capture women's memories in the nationalist struggle in a variety of discursive forms- including heretofore unpublished poetry that adds both a lyrical and elegiac dimension to histories of the period."