Episódios
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In this episode historian Dr. Shailaja Paik discusses the factors that have impacted Dalit women's access to and quality of education in India over time.
‘In Perspective’ is The Swaddle’s podcast series where academics reveal little-known facts about Indian history, society and culture.
Notes:
00:00:40:00- Why do mainstream feminists and dalit men believe that dalit women are more ‘liberated’ than high caste women? What are the problems with this though pattern?
00:04:55:12- What is ‘Dalit femininity’ and ‘oppressed sexuality,’ and how do we interrogate and understand these two?
00:07:20:00- How was ‘a new Dalit womanhood’ forged in Colonial India? What role did social reformers like Jyotirao Phule and Dr B.R Ambedkar play in it?
00:16:04:00- What kind of culture did upper-caste Marathi elite constitute in 20th century Maharashtra? How did it reinforce inequality in ‘high’ and ‘low’ communities and culture?
00:21:47:00- How did women’s education in India change their views about themselves?
00:27:47:00- How did Dalit women have power relationships in the wider society, and how do these relationships have a bearing on the access and quality of education?
00:33:18:00- How was the access and quality of education in formal institutions received by Dalit girls?
00:37:23:00- What was the prevailing view about access for Dali women?
00:40:00:00- What direction does academic research, especially Indian historical research, need to take to tell stories and to unearth research?
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In this episode, historian, writer and filmmaker Lata Mani discusses colonial debates on sati, feminist discourse online, and why we need to engage with spiritual thought critically.
‘In Perspective’ is The Swaddle’s podcast series where academics reveal little-known facts about Indian history, society and culture.
Notes:
00:00:40:00- Can progressive aspects of religious faith and practices be used to advocate for the cause of social justice?
00:09:49:00- Why is it important to engage with religion in a critical way?
00:15:24:00- Why do you think it's important to engage with religion? What value does it have to discourse in our country ?
00:21:49:00- What were the factors at play when it came to social reform related to women in colonial India? How much of a role did women's welfare play, and how much agency did they have?
00: 27:25:00- How do different feminist discourses converge?
00:33:00:00- What are ways to embody a feminism that is an oppositional force? What are the ways in which we can implement this in the way we practice feminist politics?
00:35:51:00-- What role does suffering play in the imagination and creation of solidarity? How do we ensure the autonomy of dignity from suffering?
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In this episode, historian Dr. Anshu Malhotra discusses reformist bazaar literature, the attack against the native 'dai' and the writings of the Sufi poetess Piro, in colonial Punjab.
‘In Perspective’ is The Swaddle’s podcast series where academics reveal little-known facts about Indian history, society and culture.
Notes:
00:00:40:00- How did the rise of print media lead to new forms of ‘bazaar’ literature in colonial Punjab, and how did this become a common yet complex site for social reform?
00:01:49:00- Who was ‘Piro,’ and what made her writing in life an act of resistance against the arbitrary hierarchy of gender, caste and religion?
00:05:50:00- Why was there a Colonial attack on ‘dais’ in nineteenth century Punjab? How did ‘scientific’ midwifery become a marker of middle-class status?
00:07:23:12- How did Lala Lajpat Rai’s writings discuss the fundamental reasons for women’s oppression? Did his writings impact the notions of womanhood in India?
00:26:07:00- How did Sikh reformers try to shape the idea of the 'new woman'? Did this differ from popular notions of womanhood supported by Hindu reformers?
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In this episode, digital anthropologist, Dr. Payal Arora discusses why mobile leisure like online romance and entertainment is necessary, data policies across South Asia and why data privacy is a big concern.
‘In Perspective’ is The Swaddle’s podcast series where academics reveal little-known facts about Indian history, society and culture.
Notes:
00:00:40:00- Has there been a Western bias in the evaluation of the impact of big data?
00:01:49:00- Is there a bias in framing big data as empowerment in the Global South, and what are the problems with this narrative?
00:05:50:00- How do we draw a line between doing good and the monopoly that comes with big companies helping the Global South with connectivity? How do we regulate it?
00:07:23:12- What is digital leisure? What ways can new media and the evolution of the internet enable this leisure?
00:10:34:00- How is the idea of leisure in the context of mobile internet played out for Indian youth? Can online romance, play and entertainment have a positive impact on people's life?
00:13:54:00- How has the approach to digital privacy been driven by neo liberal ideology? What will it mean to decolonise digital privacy?
00:18:19:12- Is data privacy still a big concern where there is data surveillance by authorities?
00:22:39:12- What are some of the problems with the application of transnational data regulation policies in the contexts of the Global South?
00:26:07:00- What are the ups and downs of digital romance in India, and how does it affect the youth? Is the Indian youth aware of concepts such as data privacy? What are the downsides of romance playing out online?
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In this episode, historian Dr. Seema Bawa talks about the common misconceptions about South Asian art, whether it is possible to read gender roles in early Indian art, and how artists view feminism differently today.
‘In Perspective’ is The Swaddle’s podcast series where academics reveal little-known facts about Indian history, society and culture.
Notes:
00:00:48:07- What common stereotypes about South Asian art are still prevalent globally? Are they misplaced?
00:05:30:13- As opposed to the olden days when art was linked to people of elite classes, in contemporary India, are marginalized people getting space and/or recognition for their art?
00:08:39:05- How has the feminist art movement evolved in India? Should there be emphasis on the gender of the creator of a piece of art?
00:14:26:18- What kind of gender narratives do we see in early Indian art? Was there a fluidity of gender roles and desires?
00:19:37:21- In what ways has the female body been portrayed in early Indian art? And does the portrayal of female divinity offer an empowering narrative?
00:24:22:04- In what ways did colonization interact with early Indian art? Was there a misinterpretation of our art, and what it said about India as a culture and nation?
00:28:50:13- Does art enable marginalized communities to communicate and give us access to narratives which might otherwise have been inaccessible? Is enough recognition given to the work of marginalized communities in that formal art realm?
00:31:50:11- Why is it important to engage with art as a society?
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In this episode, Urdu and Postcolonial Studies reader Dr. Amina Yaqin talks about Pakistani TV shows, female readership of Urdu novels in the 19th century, and understanding women's life narratives through autobiographies.
‘In Perspective’ is The Swaddle’s podcast series where academics reveal little-known facts about Indian history, society and culture.
Notes:
00:01:16:22- Why is Urdu perceived as a sectarian language of Indian Muslims today? In what ways has this increased communalization of the language post Partition been documented in Indian literature?
00:18:30:10- What led to the growth of the Urdu novel in the Indian subcontinent in the 19th century? How did it enable a fusion of narrative traditions of the East and West?
00:43:41:14- Why are autobiographies largely looked at as a man’s domain? What makes it a particularly interesting genre from the perspective of women’s history and women documenting their own stories?
00:59:11:21- Today’s Pakistani dramas are hugely popular in India and many parts of the world. But in what ways has there been a shift in the portrayal of women in these dramas, from the assertive, liberal heroines of the 1980s to what you describe as “cautiously modern women” who are good wives and sisters in contemporary soap operas?
01:17:00:04- How have contemporary Urdu writers in Pakistan explored narratives of gender and sexuality in subversive ways?
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In this episode, gender and sexuality studies scholar Dr. Inderpal Grewal discusses the first modern Indian travelogs, Pandita Ramabai's advocacy for Indian widows, and media portrayals of honor killing.
‘In Perspective’ is The Swaddle’s podcast series where academics reveal little-known facts about Indian history, society and culture.
Notes:
00:01:01:10- What is transnational feminism? Why is taking a transnational approach to gender important to understanding it at a regional and global level?
00:07:32:03- How did notions of beauty from 19th century Britain impact Indian women’s identities?
00:14:10:11- How did Toru Dutt appropriate the European travel narrative in the 19th century, and how did travel writing like this enable Indian readers to get a sense of life and freedom outside India?
00:19:54:21- What were Pandita Ramabai and Parvatibai Athavale’s travels like, and how did they achieve the support they got for Indian widows?
00:27:36:15- How was the activism of Pandita Ramabai and Parvatibai Athavale perceived by male Indian nationalists at the time?
00:30:38:03- What do memoirs of Indian bureaucrats from the 20th century reveal about notions of masculinity in post-colonial life, and did these ideas of masculinity differ before and after Independence?
00:41:50:09- What did the introduction of Barbie in India mean for India’s transnational Indian identity? Has that identity changed in recent years?
00:49:49:21- How does Western media portray honor killing, and how does it differ from the kind of portrayals we see in India? Do racialized portrayals of honor killing impact the efforts to stop it?
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In this episode, Dr. Jinee Lokaneeta discusses the absence of public debate on state torture in India, the murder of Thangjam Manorama, and the use of police violence at peaceful protests.
‘In Perspective’ is The Swaddle’s podcast series where academics reveal little-known facts about Indian history, society and culture.
Notes:
00:00:52:12- How has physical and mental torture been used as a tool for exercising state power in India?
00:09:01:04- Why were tools like narco-analysis and lie detectors introduced? In what ways do they enable custodial torture in India?
00:18:05:15- Is there an absence of debate on torture in India? What are the theoretical framings that allow for a denial of torture despite an evidence of such high levels of custodial death in India?
00:36:21:17- Was the Thangjam Manorama case a landmark moment in the mainstream discourse around AFSPA and torture? Or did it not end up becoming the catalyst it should have been?
00:40:18:02- With regard to the role of the Supreme court, do concerns and interventions over social or equality trump political or liberty? How do aspects of political liberty get addressed even in the absence of a focus on it?
00:51:28:09- What are the roots of the normalisation of the torture of protestors in movements like the anti-CAA-NRC protests?
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In this episode, public health specialist Dr. Sapna Desai discusses why adolescent girls avoid seeking care for sexual health issues, the curious case of early hysterectomies in India, and why we need to broaden our understanding of women's reproductive health.
‘In Perspective’ is The Swaddle’s podcast series where academics reveal little-known facts about Indian history, society and culture.
Notes:
00:00:58:22- How has women’s health policy in India addressed women's health? What issues have been highlighted and which deserve greater attention? And what are emerging priority areas to think about?
00:05:36:19- Why do you think we’ve ignored incidences of non-communicable diseases like cardiovascular diseases? Why is there a perception that these are diseases of privileged women, or women from the West?
00:08:45:14- What are the main challenges with Indian women’s access to treatment of sexual and reproductive health problems? And what about adolescents and young women?
00:11:40:19- Is the misrecognition of women's sexual health issues forming a barrier in terms of the stigma around seeking care?
00:12:53:07- How does this shift when we talk about access for how adult women access care for reproductive issues?
00:14:42:00- How comfortable are married women speaking to their families about their sexual and reproductive issues?
00:18:30:02- Why do so many young women undergo hysterectomies in parts of India? What kind of state interventions are needed to address this problem?
00:25:29:23- Historically, has there in a shift in how we look at hysterectomies, in terms of dealing with gynecological issues which are misrecognised or not treated properly?
00:27:59:11- What are the potential health problems with a hysterectomy? And what other functions does the womb serve in the body?
00:32:01:03- How can we better utilize the potential of women’s groups for better health and nutritional outcomes? And what does it mean for groups to go beyond information dissemination and actually engage in community building practices?
00:37:45:11- Why do solutions need to stem from questions about problems women are facing, as opposed to a top-down approach? When have top-down approaches failed?
00:42:36:23- How has the COVID crisis impacted the functioning of women’s groups in India? What interventions are needed to deal with these challenges?
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In this episode, scholar and activist Professor Rosemary Dzuvichu discusses the absence of public debate on state torture in India, the murder of Thangjam Manorama, and the use of police violence at peaceful protests.
‘In Perspective’ is The Swaddle’s podcast series where academics reveal little-known facts about Indian history, society and culture.
Notes:
00:01:00:13- What are some of the major development challenges facing the Northeast today?
00:05:21:13- What are the pitfalls of Northeast India becoming a buffer zone without being part of the development process? And what are some of the pitfalls of the way the Look East policy is playing out?
00:09:05:01- Is there a lack of understanding of indigenous cultures of Northeast India? How does that play out in the Indian state’s policies?
00:15:48:19- How has the militarisation of Nagaland impacted women, and in turn the women-led civil social movements in the region?
00:20:12:17- Why does the responsibility of peacekeeping end up falling on women in Nagaland?
00:22:36:19- How have questions around representation, such as reservation for women in municipal bodies in Nagaland, played out historically?
00:32:37:03- How do Naga women writers shape feminist perspectives on the region?
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In this episode, environment researchers Kanchi Kohli and Manju Menon discuss environmental impact assessments in India, and the impact of environmental degradation on local communities.
‘In Perspective’ is The Swaddle’s podcast series where academics reveal little-known facts about Indian history, society and culture.
Notes:
00:01:01:03- As we navigate through an economic crisis, how important is it to focus on environmental regulations for industries, and ensure that they remain strong?
00:04:37:21- How do companies around the world view environmental concerns? What is this mindset that drives how those in business look at environmental justice and environmental concerns around them?
00:08:49:19- What is an environmental safety net? Does an industry need to ensure a perimeter around where they operate so their environmental impact doesn’t flow beyond that? Is it an issue in regulation, enforcement or compliance?
00:11:36:07- What is the history of the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) in the global South? What was the context within which the EIA emerged in India in 1994? Why has it been so hotly debated?
00:19:14:01- Within this framework of the EIA, what is the role of the public hearing process? Is there any compulsion on the government to weave the outcome of this public hearing process into the assessment report of the EIA, or is it just for show?
00:25:07:20- Why have you written that India’s coastline is a space that epitomizes policy contradictions?
00:33:46:12- Does environmental policy being a state matter (as opposed to being centralized at the national level) help, because it is more targeted to the ecology of the area, or is it detrimental, since it can become scattered and arbitrary?
00:38:03:23- How did natural elements transform into these mobile, tradable commodities over time? How do we change this idea that nature is a limitless resource? How does the policy discourse around nature need to change?
00:48:00:11- How has land transformation been at the center of economic growth of post-colonial, Asian nation states? Has this land use transformation impacted resource dependent communities? Has the Indian state been able to address this effectively?
00:56:22:10- Is there any potentially successful legal protection for local communities impacted by land degradation? If they were to mount a challenge within the legal system, what is their chance of success?
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In this episode, sociologist Dr. Chaitanya Lakkimsetti discusses how the AIDS epidemic changed the Indian state's relationship with sex workers, and the problems with the moral panic around bar dancing in Maharashtra.
‘In Perspective’ is The Swaddle’s podcast series where academics reveal little-known facts about Indian history, society and culture.
Notes:
00;01;01;02- How does sexual labor act as a site for the pursuit of social mobility and well-being for women dancers?
00;09;47;29- What are some scenarios where we see the dichotomy in how we treat women’s sexual labor?
00;14;07;26- How did the AIDS epidemic impact the Indian state’s relationship with sex workers?
00;24;08;17- Before Section 377 was read down in 2018, legal judgments often presented very conflicting attitudes towards sexual minorities in India. What were some of these conflicting judgements, and what problems did they pose in people’s everyday lives?
00;37;26;21- What are some of the problems with the Indian state’s approach to legislation and protection of trans* rights post the NALSA judgment?
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In this episode, sociologist Prof. Radhika Chopra discusses South Asian masculinity, and what it means for heterosexual men to be feminists.
‘In Perspective’ is The Swaddle’s podcast series where academics reveal little-known facts about Indian history, society and culture.
Notes:
00:00:58:07- How is ‘veiling’ experienced in dual gendered ways, and how does it impact men in particular?
00:10:08:03- What makes veiling such a contested issue when it comes to women? Do we need to expand the idea of ‘veiling’ itself?
00:13:53:15- What are the defining characteristics of masculinity in South Asia? What does it mean to be a man in the shifting context of the sub-continent?
00:22:40:16- How is the figure of the househusband lampooned in popular culture? What does our understanding of economically dependent husbands tell us about mainstream and marginal masculinities in India?
00:28:10:01- How do we understand a man’s role in a familial structure? Why do we need to pay attention to the role that men play with respect to gender equality within households, or ‘domestic democracies’?
00:40:17:06- What are pro-feminist masculinities? What kind of tensions do they produce? What does it mean for heterosexual men to support the cause of gender equality?
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In this episode, historian Dr. Priya Satia talks about the evolution of the discipline of history, how Indian nationalists shaped British intellectual movements, and why historians need to speak truth to power.
‘In Perspective’ is The Swaddle’s podcast series where academics reveal little-known facts about Indian history, society and culture.
Notes:
00:00:58:04- Why do you say that the discipline of history itself has enabled the process of colonization by making it “ethically thinkable?”
00:05:03:11- What are some instances of moments of crisis where historians intervened?
00:09:57:19- How did the Indian nationalist movement (like Gandhi, Tagore and Nehru) shape British social history?
00:18:14:18- What are the problems with how the 1947 Partition of India took place? How did it lay the groundwork for the tensions between India and Pakistan that we see till today?
00:27:11:07- How was gun trade an essential aspect of the emergence of industrial capitalism in Britain? How was this relevant for the colonized world like South Asia?
00:33:58:23- How has the discipline of history become devalued in the formulation of state policies? Why is it important that we consult historians in policy-making?
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In this episode, researcher Dr. Usha Raman talks about cyberfeminism, algorithm biases, and reimagining the internet.
‘In Perspective’ is The Swaddle’s podcast series where academics reveal little-known facts about Indian history, society and culture.
Notes:
00:00:55:17- What is cyberfeminism? Why is it important to take a feminist approach to understanding digital media and the internet at large?
00:05:08:20- Has the involvement of women in technology and design on the internet actually made it more inclusive?
00:09:10:06- How has digital feminist activism grown in India? What kind of obstacles does this form of activism face?
00:15:06:08- Does digital feminism in India exclude any communities?
00:18:59:13- Have media portrayals of the 2012 Delhi rape case been problematic? How did these portrayals impact popular understandings of feminism and women’s safety?
00:24:21:19- What are the issues with the online discourse we see around women’s safety, especially when initiated by the State? How did the ‘She Team’ program under the Telangana police department change this narrative?
00:28:53:12- How do people across the social spectrum use new media to create new identities? What kind of concerns around privacy and datafication does this raise?
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In this episode, historical and political anthropologist Dr. Atreyee Majumder talks about how colonialism shaped Indian environmentalism, and the ways in which capitalism impacts space and time.
‘In Perspective’ is The Swaddle’s podcast series where academics reveal little-known facts about Indian history, society and culture.
Notes:
00:00:52:07- How did colonial rule shape India’s attitude towards the environment? Do we see a continuity in this attitude in India’s postcolonial environmental regime as well?
00:05:49:09- Why has it continued to remain a status regime in postcolonial times as well?
00:09:32:06- What would it mean to resist this framework, and resist this environmental vocabulary that is defined by the state in the activisms that emerge from ground up?
00:12:20:01- How did resource extraction become the basis of colonialism? In what ways does this idea of resource extraction transform in the postcolonial era of globalization?
00:24:37:08- How has globalization impacted global labor dynamics, enabling countries from the global north to profit from exploitative labor in the global south?
00:29:09:17- Could you give an example which we see in the context of India selling out labor in a similar way without any sort of protection? Have we seen negative consequences of that in terms of its impact on people?
00:31:54:19- What is the relationship between the accumulation of capital and environmental degradation?
00:36:46:09- How do we find ways of resisting it, when most of our world order is based on capitalism, especially when pertaining to the climate emergency?
00:39:34:05- How has industrial capitalism shaped the trajectories of time and space in India?
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In this episode, political scientist Dr. Pavithra Suryanarayan talks to us about understanding how the Brahmin elite 'hollowed out' state capacity in colonial India, and why Indians vote to protect status interests.
‘In Perspective’ is The Swaddle’s podcast series where academics reveal little-known facts about Indian history, society and culture.
Notes:
00:00:53:03- What is ‘state capacity?’ What does it mean to hollow out state capacity?
00:05:33:02- How did the Brahmin elite hollow out the bureaucracy in the Bombay and Madras Presidencies at the time the Indian state was being democratised?
00:10:48:07- How does this play out in India even today?
00:13:26:14- What makes right-wing political parties popular among the poor?
00:18:21:16- What role does people’s income play in voter turnout in India?
00:19:54:23- Why are caste and class so relevant when it comes to voting and politics in India?
00:22:53:17- Why does India see a huge proliferation of various political parties across states?
00:27:55:02- In the recent 2021 West Bengal elections, almost all news sites’ pre-poll data predicted that the BJP would win, which turned out to be wrong when the All India Trinamool Congress won by a landslide. Where does the mismatch between voters’ attitudes and perceptions of the media come from?
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In this episode, legal activist Prita Jha talks to us about the problems with implementation of laws pertaining to violence against women and child sexual abuse.
‘In Perspective’ is The Swaddle’s podcast series where academics reveal little-known facts about Indian history, society and culture.
Notes:
00:00:56:12- You’re written about how the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act is a groundbreaking piece of legislation. What kind of legal and social activism went into passing this law, and what were some of the public debates around it?
00:08:17:16- Is a lack of awareness the cause for the difference inaccess to protections of the law in urban and rural areas?
00:09:19:11- There’s a gap between the progressive nature of the law, and the judiciary’s understanding and application of it. What are some constraints with the judiciary’s application of the law?
00:11:58:23- Where does the notion that dowry law can be misused by women in false cases against their husbands and in-laws come from? Is there any research or data to back this notion? Are there problems with how we legally define what a false case is?
00:20:31:06- What are some problems with criminalizing consensual sexual activity among adolescents? How do we address this complicated issue?
00:25:44:18- Is the law which was intended to address child sexual abuse being used by parents of girls to protect them even from consensual adolescent relationships?
00:26:55:02- Do we have the legal frameworks and protections in place to address the way that domestic violence played out during the Covid-19 lockdown?
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In this episode, historian Dr. Jessica Hinchy talks to us about the colonial ‘panic’ surrounding the hijra community in the 19th century, the circumstances leading to their criminalisation, and the ways in which family became the focus of surveillance under the 1871 Criminal Tribes Act.
‘In Perspective’ is The Swaddle’s podcast series where academics reveal little-known facts about Indian history, society and culture.
Notes:
00:00:52:11- What were the factors that led to a colonial ‘panic’ surrounding the hijra community in the 19th century?
00:17:14:05- In the context of the 1871 Criminal Tribes Act, how did state policy seek to eliminate the hijra community altogether?
00:27:15:20- In what ways did the hijra community undermine this colonial legislation and policing?
00:36:29:12- How did some biographies and autobiographies of hijras challenge the colonial understanding of the hijra community?
00:46:47:17- How did the family unit emerge as the central target of surveillance under the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871? How did this understanding impact middle-class Indian gender and caste politics?
00:58:20:23- What matchmaking campaign did the colonial state launch in north India in 1891? What role did their concern with marriage practices and conjugality play in shaping the attitudes towards criminal tribes?
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In this episode, cultural studies scholar Dr. Swati Moitra talks to us about reading cultures, women's travel in the 19th century, and the subversive potential of femslash fanfiction.
‘In Perspective’ is The Swaddle’s podcast series where academics reveal little-known facts about Indian history, society and culture.
Notes:
00:01:03:11- In 19th century Bengal, what were the anxieties around ‘modern’ women travelers? And how did these anxieties make their way into popular writings and art at the time?
00:11:15:04- How did the travel writing of Kailashbashini Debi enable her to claim a voice in public space and advocate for the restructuring of domestic life?
00:19:15:18- How did communitarian reading groups in colonial Bengal assert the importance of reading as a leisurely practice for Bengali women? And how did this shape the ideal of the Bengali bhadra mahila (the ideal, chaste woman)?
00:29:00:20- How has print culture been impacted by the changes in contemporary reading cultures?
00:34:43:19- What do instances of enforcement of morality tell us about society’s discomfort with women being in public?
00:39:35:22- What is femslash fiction? How can we understand it in the context of Indian popular culture? Can subcultures like femslash contribute to queer visibility in India?
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