Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Moralistic Science: Socio-Cultural Norms About Sexuality In Indian Biology Education, Panchami Jose, Sugra Chunawala, Deepa Chari

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper takes the position that the discourses of science and morality are not distinct within biology education; rather, they inform each other to produce, discipline, and regulate human sexuality. Our analysis of the medical and moral discussion on sexuality in a secondary school science textbook (the 12th standard National Council for Educational Research and Training textbook), along with insights from interviews with teachers, reveals that the texts portray a romanticized notion of sex that is limited to a monogamous heterosexual relationship. In the first part of the paper, we analyze how the biology textbook discusses “safer sex” in the …

Decolonizing Tutor And Writing Center Administrative Labor: An Autoethnography Of A South Asian Writing Center’S Personnel, Saurabh Anand

Writing Center Journal

This piece informs my journey of thinking and contextualizing the validity of autoethnography as a decolonial qualitative research method in writing center scholarship. This piece provides the lilt of everyday writing center initiatives, labor, and workings using five email exchanges as data depicting my interactions with various writing center stakeholders as a transnational writing center studies student-tutor, administrator, and doctoral student from South Asia, specifically India. This piece also argues how I used my experiences as one of a writing center’s personnel as a tool of empowerment in my liminal position in my writing center and elaborates on those experiences, …

The "Indian" Alexander: Reworking Nationalism, Myth, And Sikandar, John Sexton

Madison Historical Review

This article seeks to expand scholarly inquiry regarding the Alexander Romance into twentieth century India and away the Near East of Antiquity and the Europe of the Middle Ages where it is usually confined. In particular this article will discuss the Alexander Romance’s impact upon and connection with the modern invention of the cinema. Besides the usual cinematic culprit of analysis, Oliver Stone's Alexander (2004), there is another less-discussed cinematic work regarding Alexander the Great. That being Sohrab Modi's Hindustani historical epic Sikandar (1941) from British colonial India. Regarding the Macedonian conqueror and his reputation among Indian scholars such as …

Indigenous And Tribal Women: Indian And Filipino Alangan-Mangyan Perspectives On Happiness, Hazel T. Biana, Melvin Jabar

Journal of International Women's Studies

Research on happiness focuses on urban dwellers, and studies done in rural areas leave much to be desired. Existing scholarship also overlooks how women’s economic and socio-cultural roles contribute to happiness levels in relation to health, education, and safety issues. To address such a gap, this study examines and evaluates the perspectives of indigenous and tribal women on happiness, specifically those who belong to Indian rural communities and Filipino AlanganMangyan indigenous peoples. We argue that while happiness is considered a mental state, it is still a very social concept. In other words, social forces may make or break one’s happiness. …

Do Resources Create Empowerment?: A Study Of Tribal Women Farmers In Madhya Pradesh, India, Sudarshan Thakur, Simran Malkan

Journal of International Women's Studies

As of late, there has been debate about the importance of recognizing women in agriculture as farmers. The demand to be recognized is backed by women’s significant contribution to the household economy. Scholars have attempted to establish a correlation between land ownership and women’s empowerment in agriculture. This is an oversimplification of the situation of women farmers and their empowerment, especially in the context of tribal society where women have better access to and control over community and forest resources. We undertook this study to examine if having land and other resources is a prerequisite for the empowerment of tribal …

Educational Migration And Agency Among Tribal Young Women, Deepika Kumari Meena

Journal of International Women's Studies

In this paper, I examine the understanding of agency among the tribal young women attending college in Pratapgarh (Rajasthan), India. Particularly in light of this shift in their living and academic spaces, I look at how they interpret and perform their agency when it comes to being in a romantic relationship and getting married. It is not uncommon for tribal members to engage in romantic relationships and to seek love marriages. The number of young women migrating for education is increasing. As a result of educational migration, the practice of live-in relationships, romantic relationships, and love marriages has also increased …

Sisterhood And Solidarity In The Netarhat Field Firing Range Movement: A Study Of Indian Tribal Women’S Struggle And Activism, Sunita Purty

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article examines the understanding of collectivism and sisterhood among Oraon tribal women in the Netarhat Field Firing Range movement. Further, this study discusses tribal women’s consciousness of repressive operations of the state and of their experiences of triple oppression as a tribal group, as women, and as activists. Tribal women’s goals, however, are much more than women’s liberation; they demand tribal autonomy and the right to forest resources so that tribal people can live peacefully in their regions. This study also looks at how a group of women shared their gender-based grievances as well as their everyday struggle under …

Theorizing Adivasi/Tribal Feminism: Decoding Voices From Chotanagpur And The Northeast Region Of India, Kanchan Thomasina Ekka, Pheiga Amanda Giangthandunliu

Journal of International Women's Studies

The Adivasi people, termed Scheduled Tribes in India, have a lifeworld entwined with nature, land, and resources. Their relationship with the land produces a particular form of lived experience. This interface between land and culture that shapes the body of knowledge is not written or recorded like other practices and traditions. Adivasi/Tribal women play an important role in articulating this knowledge and contributing to its formation. However, this particular lived experience, especially concerning women, has not received the recognition it deserves within the context of mainstream feminism, which has not paid attention to Adivasi/Tribal women as victims of colonial and …

Writing Adivasi Women: Widening The Research Canvas, Shashank Shekhar Sinha

Journal of International Women's Studies

Adivasis have become visible in debates around indigeneity, identity politics, conversion, development, and displacement, and more recently on climate change. However, gender remains a comparatively marginalized theme and Adivasi women or tribal women remain marginalized subjects. This article explores the broad themes and conceptual frameworks around which Adivasi women have gained maximum visibility in colonial and postcolonial India. It analyzes the trends in available research on Adivasi women and the problems involved. The article underlines the need to widen our research canvas, ask more questions, and consider more layers and complexities in research pursuits.

Viewing The World Through The Prism Of Cross-Cultural Romances: Film Review Of Christmas As Usual (2023) And Further Reflections, Raja Ramanathan

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

No abstract provided.

Against Conflict, Against Occupation: Protest Songs In India And Kashmir, Mridula Sharma

Comparative Woman

The establishment of All India Progressive Writers’ Association in colonial India encouraged artists to articulate and examine social realities. Literary-cultural productions, particularly popular songs in Hindi films, in independent India continued to remain preoccupied with social conflicts such as religious bigotry and communalism. Sahir Ludhianvi’s “Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaye” (trans. “What can one gain, even if one gains this world?,” 1958 ) and “Yeh Kiska Lahu Hai, Kaun Mara” (trans. “Whose Blood Has Spilled? Who Died?,” 1961) are early examples of a lasting tide of pessimism owing to communal violence during the 1947 India-Pakistan …

Immigration, Diversity, Cultural Clash, And – Hopefully – Cultural Melding? A Review Of Mrs. Chatterjee Vs. Norway (2023), Raja Ramanathan

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

For migrating from 'developing’ countries, to relocate in the ‘advanced West’, a message that came through from the western society is clear: “Integrate.” The Norwegian official in the movie 'Mrs. Chatterjee vs. Norway" says this unequivocally and with impact: “Be like us if you want to live here or go back to where you came from.” The message of the western world – ever since they started colonizing the ‘native’ lands of Asia, Asia and the Americas – was that the natives had to be saved from themselves. That was “the white man’s burden” – a burden of “civilizing” the …

Johannessen Visit

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Professor Carl Johannessen, professor of geography at the University of Oregon, lectured in March at BYU on his research on evidence for pre-Columbian maize in India and nearby areas. F.A.R.M.S. has provided support for his work. He presented BYU botanists and others with an impressive array of actual specimens, pictures of sculptured representations of cobs of corn on Indian temples, and linguistic and historical data.

The Theology Of The Liturgical Seasons In The Syro-Malabar Church, Ann Mary Madavanakadu Cmc

Journal of Global Catholicism

This paper focuses on the theology of the liturgical seasons in the Syro-Malabar Church. The liturgical year with its liturgical cycles and seasons, is more than just a mere structural framework for the prayer life of the Church. It is a true locus of rich theology. The liturgical year is defined as the yearly plan of spiritual life by the Church, for her children, arranged in different seasons or periods to celebrate the mysteries of Christ in life together with feasts, fasts, and abstinence in order to make Christian life a successful pilgrimage to heaven for attaining salvation. This article …

Palliyogam: A Vibrant Legacy Of The Syro-Malabar Archiepiscopal Church, Dery Davis

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article explores the historic inheritance of the Palliyogam of the sui iuris Syro-Malabar Major Archiepiscopal Church, focusing on its role in maintaining synodality in ecclesial life. Palliyogam, a parish assembly, has been the cornerstone of ecclesial communion among Malabar Christians for centuries. As Pope Francis inaugurates the three-year synod on synodality, this study examines how Palliyogam aligns with this synodal vision. The article delves into both the ancient form of Palliyogam and its present-day manifestation, shedding light on their theology and role in governance and decision-making within the Syro-Malabar tradition. The article emphasizes that synodality is already inherent …

Editor's Introduction, Mathew Schmalz

Journal of Global Catholicism

Introduction by Founding Editor, Mathew N. Schmalz to Graduate Symposium II.

We Deliver: The Condition Of The Woman Academic In India Today, Ananya Dutta Gupta

Journal of International Women's Studies

This auto-ethnographic essay draws upon Foucault’s Archaeology of Knowledge to discuss the condition of Indian women in the Humanities in academia today. While acknowledging the encouragingly gender-inclusive projections in India’s National Education Policy vision statement from 2020, I argue for more probing engagement with the concrete reality of being a woman teacher and researcher in the increasingly competitive and corporatized milieu of higher education. My methodology has been a close reading of the NEP’s vision statement to analyze recurrences of terms and concepts as pointers to its discursive field. I argue that this policy statement implicitly envisions an empowered new-age …

Travails Of New Mothers Returning To Work In Corporate India: A Phenomenological Study, Anil Jose Thomas, N. T. Sudhesh

Journal of International Women's Studies

A woman’s life is a myriad of experiences and none, perhaps, leaves a more lasting impression on her than motherhood. The child-birth event along with all its highs and lows not only has a deep psychological impact on her as a person but also impacts her career in many ways. Using interpretive phenomenological analysis, we have studied the lived experience of women who returned to work in corporate settings after maternity leave. Our study found that not only do they go through an emotional upheaval during this phase, but they also see a marked shift in the way they approach …

Are We Safe? An Investigation Of Eve-Teasing (Public Sexual Harassment) In India, Usha Rana

Journal of International Women's Studies

In recent years, many countries have tightened the rules against harassment in the workplace and violence in the home. On the other hand, incidences of sexual harassment against women in public places have not been paid sufficient attention. Developing countries like India have recorded an increase in sexual harassment cases in public places due to the increase in participation of women in activities outside the home such as education and employment. In India, the term “Eve-teasing” is a euphemism for sexual harassment in public places. Eve-teasing is identified as a significant problem in the patriarchal society of India that carries …

Poverty And Commercial Surrogacy In India: An Intersectional Analytical Approach, Sheela Suryanarayanan

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

The destination and source countries for commercial surrogacy match world patterns of inequality. India, Nepal, Thailand, Mexico, and Cambodia banned commercial surrogacy, moving the market to other less-developed countries in South Africa and South America. India had a commercial surrogacy boom until exploitative factors led to the passage of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill in 2019, which banned the practice. This paper examines surrogacy's monetary, health, and emotional effects on 45 surrogate mothers in Gujarat State, India. The study revealed that a majority (63%) of the very poor women remained very poor post-surgery. Surrogate mothers in poor households had to do …

Custodianship And Care: Women And Reading In Anita Desai’S Clear Light Of Day, Aruni Mahapatra

Journal of International Women's Studies

Several scholars have noted how the Indian state has been able to care for women only by placing them in custody of the family or the community, often overseen by male relatives. How do novels by Indian women writers intervene in this difficult social and legal problem? This paper answers this question by integrating feminist scholarship on the place of Indian women in postcolonial India with another scholarly tradition: the ethics of care. Conventionally, these two bodies of writing have not been in direct dialogue. This paper facilitates a conversation by close-reading Anita Desai’s Clear Light of Day, a novel …

Tracking The Harmonium From Christian Missionary Hymns To Sikh Kirtan, Gurminder Kaur Bhogal

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

The harmonium is prominent in Sikh practices of devotional music known as kirtan and yet its significance has barely been addressed in Euro-American scholarship. Following on the heels of a recent ban against using the instrument at the holiest temple of the Sikhs, Harmandir Sahib (popularly known as the Golden Temple), this article explores how the ban seeks to discard this colonial instrument and return to playing traditional string instruments (tanti saz) associated with the courts (darbar) of the Sikh Gurus. This study is the first to examine primary missionary sources from the nineteenth and early …

Theological Implications Of The Symbols And Signs In The Sacrament Of Matrimony Of The Syro-Malabar Church, Nelson Mathew O. Carm.

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article discusses the significance of the signs and symbols used in the sacrament of the marriage of the Syro-Malabar Church and the adaptations from different cultures, particularly the Hindu culture of India. It concentrates on the specific elements found in the marriage celebration of the St. Thomas Christians. The rituals that are unique to the Sacrament of Matrimony of the Syro-Malabar Church, mainly expressed through symbols and signs, remain a significant contribution to the liturgy, spirituality, and theology of the Sacrament of Matrimony, and to the theology of inculturation. In the Syro-Malabar liturgy, marriage rituals, and signs and symbols …

Overview & Acknowledgments, Marc R. Loustau Ph.D.

Journal of Global Catholicism

An introduction to the current issue of the Journal of Global Catholicism.

Perspectives Of Women Police Officers In The Union Territory Of Puducherry, India, Chemmalar S.

Journal of International Women's Studies

Women face unprecedented challenges of gender inequality despite representing half of the world’s population, yet increasingly, they are entering physically demanding professions such as policing. Underlying police culture is a normative power structure defined by hegemonic masculinity. Discrimination, sexual harassment, and inadequate maternity and parental leave are some of the issues that women police officers face. Despite these limitations, there is a growing demand for women police officers. This study contributes to a better understanding of the issues that women police officers face in their work. It also sheds light on the psychology of women police officers and their approach …

Women Parliamentarians In India Since 1991: Challenges And Opportunities, Vatsala Bhusry

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

India gained a new economic orientation in 1991 following the policy of economic liberalization. It offered the opportunities to close the gender gap in various fields including the political field as visualized in the original goal of the Indian constitution. However, there is an acute underrepresentation of women at the national political level and there is a lack of evidence-based research studies to analyze this gap. This study maps the political trajectories of 13 elected women leaders holding offices at the national level since 2019. To better understand the challenges and opportunities at both macro and micro levels they came …

Rights Of Persons With Disabilities In India: Provisions, Promises And Reality, Triveni Goswami Vernal

BAU Journal - Society, Culture and Human Behavior

The paper Rights of Persons with Disabilities in India: Provisions, Promises and Reality traces the historical evolution of the disability related legal provisions in India briefly, in the context of the United Nations mandated Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons (1975) and the Convention on the Rights of the Persons with Disabilities (CRPD,2007). In such a scenario, the paper attempts to arrive at an understanding of the extent to which the provisions have been implemented. To this extent, the researcher conducted a series of telephonic interviews with several parent-advocates who have been vocal about disability rights in India. An …

Teaching Eliza Fay's Original Letters From India (1817) Through Classroom Editing, Lacy Marschalk

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640-1830

Travel writing is an ever-growing area of interest in eighteenth-century studies, but it can be difficult to teach. Students often find the writing dry and unrelatable, and faculty who have had little experience with travel writing in their own educations may not know which texts would prove useful to their courses. In this article, I discuss the travel narrative with which I've found the most pedagogical success, Eliza Fay's Original Letters from India (1817). Fay's initial journey to India includes a range of captivating adventures, including encounters with Marie Antoinette in Paris, bandits in Egypt, and Hyder Ali in Calicut, …

The Politics Of Representating Dalit Women: A Study Of The Newspaper Khabar Lahariya And The Documentary Writing With Fire, Harishma Hari K, Khamarunnisa P. A

Journal of International Women's Studies

Redefining power is the only means to redress the gender bias that women have had to endure in a male-dominated society. As Héléne Cixous declared in “The Laugh of the Medusa” (1975), “écriture feminine” (or women’s writing) is the only way to emphasize women’s perspectives and end stereotyping of women and their opinions in literature. Such ideas helped to transform the representation of women in literature. This transformation is required not only in the literary world, but there is also an urgent need for the realistic representation of women in every section of society. Media being a powerful tool has …

Reflections On Queer Literary Representations In Contemporary Indian Writing In English, Aakanksha Singh

Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women's & Gender Studies

This reflection piece explores the importance of thinking beyond labels and categories for queer desires and queer expressions of love. Knowability and visibility of these desires through labels and categories has the potential and indeed does create awareness. This visibility, however, can inadvertently also create borders and perpetuate rigidity about queer desires, confining them to certain norms and limitations. The piece then reflects on mass media's role in creating these borders, particularly through the coverage of Pride Parades in India. Then by examining contemporary texts such as Amruta Patil's Kari (2008), Himanjali Sankar's Talking of Muskaan (2015) and Parvati Sharma's …