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From Suffragist to an anti-colonial Feminist Margaret Cousins In Colonial India and Ireland

From Suffragist to an anti-colonial Feminist Margaret Cousins In Colonial India and Ireland

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From Suffragist to an anti-colonial Feminist Margaret Cousins In Colonial India and Ireland
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<strong>Centre for Historical Studies School of Social Sciences</strong> a Lecture <strong>From Suffragist to an anti-colonial Feminist Margaret Cousins In Colonial India and Ireland</strong> <strong>Jyoti Atwal</strong> Centre for Historical Studies, JNU <strong>26th August 2015</strong> Scholarship on the Western women's work in colonial India has over subscribed to the idea that most of these women were either 'extensions' of the empire or 'maternal' imperialists. Western women's travel/personal writings were often soft literary - cultural contributions to the realm of writings on the exotic oriental. While missionary schools, colleges, and hospitals remained important workshops for politico-cultural training of Western women, it is the women outside missionary fold seeking spiritual freedom who proved to be immensely creative and independent. However such women have been left out by both Indian and Western feminist scholarship. Women from Ireland in colonial India were positioned very differently from their British sisters vis a vis the colonial state. Amongst the Irish women, Margaret or Gretta Cousins (1878-1954) stands out. This presentation discusses Cousins and tries to fill in this gap in women's history writing from both India and the Ireland. Dr Jyoti Atwal teaches gender history at the Centre for Historical Studies, School of Social Sciences, JNU, New Delhi. She has been a Long Room Hub Visiting Fellow at Trinity College Dublin in 2012 and a Visiting Professor at Dublin City University in 2013. She is an advisory member of the India Study Centre Cork at University College Cork, Ireland.

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.