Pandita Ramabai's American Encounter

by Ramabai Sarasvati, Pandita; Kosambi, Meera; Ramabai, Pandita

• ISBN13: 9780253341907
• ISBN10: 0253341906
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-02-01
• Publisher: Indiana Univ Pr

Summary

In the 1890s Pandita Ramabai traveled from India to England and then to the U.S., where she spent three years immersed in the milieu of progressive social reform movements of the day. Born into a Brahmin family and widowed while still young, she converted to Christianity while in England. In India, she was an activist for the education of women and the improvement of the status of widows. Abroad, she was iconized as a champion of the "oppressed Hindu woman." The Peoples of the United States is Ramabai's comprehensive description of American life, ranging from government to economy, education to domestic activity. As an account of a Western society by an Indian woman and a feminist, it reverses the established equation of male, Orientalist travel narratives. First published in Marathi in 1889, it is offered here in an elegant and engaging English translation by Meera Kosambi, who also provides a critical introduction and extensive annotations.

Author Biography

Meera Kosambi is former Professor and Director, Research Centre for Women's Studies, SNDT Women's University, Mumbai. Her other books include Pandita Ramabai Through Her Own Words: Selected Works.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments	ix
List of Abbreviations	xiii
Introduction Returning the American Gaze: Situating Pandita Ramabai's American Encounter	1	(240)
Meera Kosambi
The Peoples of the United States
Pandita Ramabai
Preface	53	(2)
Voyage from Liverpool to Philadelphia	55	(7)
The ``Nethermost World,'' or Continent of America	62	(14)
System of Government	76	(19)
Social Conditions	95	(10)
Domestic Conditions	105	(33)
Education and Learning	138	(16)
Religious Denominations and Charities	154	(13)
The Condition of Women	167	(48)
Commerce and Industry	215	(26)
Translator's/Editor's Notes	241	(26)
Literature Cited	267	(8)
Index	275