Behind the Veil: Resistance, Women and the Everyday in Colonial South Asia

This book aims at re-examining the issue of 'everyday resistance' through the lens of women's experiences in colonial South Asia. The overwhelming image of Indian women during the period is one of passivity, with the exception of some outstanding figures. The attempt in the present volume is to unearth a narrative of deeper and more enduring resistance offered by less extraordinary women in their daily lives. In a breathtaking collection of essays key scholars in the field bring together evidence from a range of unconventional sources such as women's songs, photographs, and embroidery, but equally from legal records, memoirs, and published work, to present women in far more assertive and/or subversive roles. The volume is, however, as much about the nature of power as it is about women. Inspired by both subaltern and gender studies, it tries to highlight the complex ways in which power operates within oppressive structures, making any simple valorization -- and for that matter, theorization -- of gendered resistance difficult if not impossible. Contributors: Padma Anagol, Clare Anderson, Geraldine Forbes, Anindita Ghosh, Siobhan Lambert-Hurley, Tanika Sarkar, Nita Varma Prasad.