MONASH UNIVERSITY FACULTY HANDBOOKS

Arts Graduate Handbook 1996

Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996

AST4040

Gender, state and religion in South Asia

Renuka Sharma

Synopsis This subject aims to provide students with an overview of the key social, cultural and political elements impinging on the position of women in South Asia over the last two to three millennia, and of the factors, such as colonialism, that have served to dramatically change the outlook for women in recent decades. The diverse history of feminism in South Asia will be examined by constructing an overview of the position of South Asian women over time, and then examining aspects of work about recent women's struggles. The contributions of postmodern discourse to arrive at an understanding of the experiential ethics of feminist action in an environment of growing religious extremism will be investigated. Students will develop an understanding of social and cultural denominators such as class, caste, gender and sect in the South Asian context, acquire an understanding of the dynamics of historical change, attain familiarity with postmodern and post-colonial discourses on South Asian feminism, and demonstrate skills of independent research, source-criticism and expression.

Assessment Literature-survey essay (3000 words): 30% + Research essay (6000 words): 60% + Seminar participation: 10%.

Recommended reading

• Chattopadhyay K India women's battle for freedom 1983
• Gitiara N `Addressing change: working women and the resurgence of purdah in Bangladesh' in Sharma R (ed.) Representations of gender and identity politics in relation to South Asia NARI: Series in Gender Studies, vol. 2, 1995
• Jayawardena K `Emancipation and subordination of women in Sri Lanka' in Jayawardena K Feminism and nationalism in the third world 1986
• Kotkin J Tribes: How race, religion and identity determine success in the new global economy 1993
• Miss M Indian women and patriarchy 1980.
• Mohanty C T and others Third world and the politics of feminism 1991
• Mernissi F Beyond the veil: Female dynamics in Muslim society rev. edn, 1985
• Tharu S Women writing in India, 600 BC to the present vols 1 and 2, 1993
• Yasmin S `The history of the women's movement in Pakistan' in Sharma R (ed.) Women, power and cultural difference: Negotiating gender in South Asia NARI: Series in Gender Studies, vol. 4, 1995
• Zia A S Sex, crime in the Islamic context: Rape, class and gender in Pakistan1994