Modern India Women Essay

Choose ONE question to answer from section A and ONE question to answer from section B. You must select one question from each section. Each essay should be typed, in size 12 font, 1.5 spaced and at least 600 words in length. Please introduce and conclude your essays, provide concrete examples (names, dates and places), and spend time carefully constructing your argument for each answer. Refer to the writing deadlines and review of midterm I uploaded earlier this semester for more tips. Midterm must be submitted on November 21st by 5pm. You can submit a print out version to me in class on the 20th if you’d prefer, but either way I must have a copy of your midterm by the date and time mentioned above. UNIT II 1. Do a close reading of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s Sultana's Dream and Selections from the Secluded Ones (including Roushan Jahan’s biographical essay on her). The society Rokeya lived in practiced purdah. What does this term mean and why did Rokeya think purdah and seclusion were harmful to women? What did she want to accomplish with her writing? Do you think she was successful? Would you describe Rokeya as a feminist? You will need to define the term feminism in order to answer. 2. Discuss the impetus to look East instead of West for models of women’s rights and reform in the 1920s. What kinds of imperialist feminist voices were Indian women’s rights activists reacting to? And how successful were they in constructing alternative models of femininity and reform for themselves? Base your answer on an analysis of the All-Asia conference, Rameshwari Nehru’s visit to Burma and Katherine Mayo’s Mother India. UNIT III [login to view URL] historians claim Gandhi brought women into public life but the picture of women’s involvement in the freedom struggle is more complicated. Discuss why the Gandhian movement was attractive to women and the various activities of women in the struggle for freedom. Did women’s participation in Gandhian nationalism help or hinder their demands for women’s rights? Base your answer on at least one relevant primary source and two secondary sources. 2. What did Bengal Terrorism, the INA and Communism offer Indian women that participation in the mainstream freedom movement could not? Discuss the ideology of each movement in detail, focusing on what attracted women to each. Base your answer on at least three relevant primary sources and one secondary source. I have uploaded pdf files of some the neccessary readings, as well as some extra stuff as well.