Visualizing Indian Women 1875-1947

Photography as a medium has captured the diverse realities of women’s lives over the last century and a half, providing a more holistic understanding of what is learned through the written word, memory, and recall. Visualizing Indian Women is a collection of 300 archival photographs accompanied by explanatory captions depicts women s lives during the period 1875 1947. It also includes a comprehensive, well-researched, yet lucid introduction placing in context the photographs which have been gleaned from private collections. Based on a traveling of families and friends, as well as from archives sections of various institutions, originally presented in an exhibition held by the Centre for Women s Development Studies, New Delhi, the book consists of images and explanatory captions that are divided into five sections, following a more or less chronological development of Indian women during this period. Visualizing the Family showcases family photographs that focus on the changing role of women, the emergence of the urban nuclear family, domestic rituals, and home performances. Pioneers in educational reform and the experiences of women in schools and colleges Worlds Beyond studies the beginnings of women s emancipation by recording upper caste women as pioneers in the creative arts, middle-class women travelling and experiencing life outside the home, and women as agricultural labourers and factory workers The Freedom Struggle documents. The process of women s evolution as active political beings in a critical phase of the nation s history are documented in ‘The Freedom Struggle’. Towards the Midnight Hour captures a sense of challenge and commitment by highlighting the emergence of women as professionals and their experiences through the Bengal famine, Quit India movement, Partition, and the Second World War. With a comprehensive, lucidly written introduction that places the photographs in context, This book will be of great interest to general readers, students and scholars of gender studies, history, sociology, culture and media studies photographers, photo-journalists, archivists, and art historians.