Many consider the autobiography to be a Western genre that represents the self as fully autonomous. The contributors to Speaking of the Self challenge this presumption by examining a wide range of women’s autobiographical writing from South Asia. Expanding the definition of what kinds of writing can be considered autobiographical, the contributors analyze everything from poetry, songs, mystical experiences and diaries, to prose, fiction, architecture and ...
Piro and the Gulabdasis: Gender, Sect, and Society in Punjab
The book focuses on how the notion of being ’high caste’, as it developed and transformed during the colonial period, contributed to the formation of a ‘middle class’ among the Hindus and the Sikhs. While many reformist Sikhs and Hindus either denied or re-conceptualized caste, the book draws attention to the innovative ways in which older privileges shaped newer identities. This, in turn, had an impact on gender relations, and encouraged the ...
