Author: K Srilata
Editor(s): K Srilata
Publisher: Kali/Zubaan
Year: 2003
Language: English
Pages: 198
ISBN/UPC (if available): 818670650X
Description
This collection of essays and fiction by women Self-Respecters translated from the Tamil serves as the material basis for writing an alternative history of the Self-Respect Movement launched by E V Ramasami Naiker which questioned the ways in which the lower castes were systematically excluded from the Indian nation.
The Self-Respect Movement launched by Periyar (E V Ramasami Naiker) in 1926 questioned the ways in which the lower castes were systematically excluded from the Indian nation and constructed as the other by the Brahmin elites. While Periyar’s role within the movement has received critical and scholarly attention, women Self-Respecters and the issues they raised have gone largely unnoticed.
In mapping the voices of women who identified with the movement, this anthology helps us arrive at a different and richer understanding of what the Self-Respect movement stood for. There is an urgent need not only to improve upon existing Self-Respect histories but also to critique the ways in which they have so far been written. This anthology provides a basis for such a critique.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Preface
SECTION I
Stories, Treatise and Essays by Women Self-Respecters
SECTION II
The Self-Respect Novel
The Dasis’ Wicked Snares Or The Playboy who Came to His Senses
APPENDICES
Essays, Speeches and Letters by Periyar E V Ramasami Naiker
Biographical Notes
Bibliography