000			02116nam a2200205Ia 4500
999			_c15002 _d15002
003			OSt
005			20200816134348.0
008			160316s1998 xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
040			_c.
082			_a305.400000 _bMAN-2
100			_aMani Lata
245			_aContentious Traditions : The Debate on Sati in Colonial India
260			_aNew Delhi _bOxford University Press _c1998
300			_a246p _cxiii
365			_bRs.495
505			_aContentious Traditions analyzes the debate on sati, or widow burning, in colonial India. Though the prohibition of widow burning in 1829 was heralded as a key step forward for women's emancipation in modern India, Lata Mani argues that the women who were burned were marginal to the debate and that the controversy was over definitions of Hindu tradition, the place of ritual in religious worship, the civilizing missions of colonialism and evangelism, and the proper role of the colonial state. Mani radically revises colonialist as well as nationalist historiography on the social reform of women's status in the colonial period and clarifies the complex and contradictory character of missionary writings on India. The history of widow burning is one of paradox. While the chief players in the debate argued over the religious basis of sati and the fine points of scriptural interpretation, the testimonials of women at the funeral pyres consistently addressed the material hardships and societal expectations attached to widowhood. And although historiography has traditionally emphasized the colonial horror of sati, a fascinated ambivalence toward the practice suffused official discussions. The debate normalized the violence of sati and supported the misconception that it was a voluntary act of wifely devotion. Mani brilliantly illustrates how situated feminism and discourse analysis compel a rewriting of history, thus destabilizing the ways we are accustomed to look at women and men, at "tradition," custom, and modernity.
650			_a1. Women Studies - Sati System - Colonial India2. Women Status - Colonial India
700			_a _a
942			_2ddc _cBK