Locating Feminist Counterpublics in 19th Century Bengal
Led by Dr Sukanya Mondal, the project is funded by IIT Jammu and is scheduled to be completed by 2027.
The aim of this project is to examine the changes which the women's quarter in 19th Century Bengal underwent as an effect of the rapidly evolving public sphere, literacy drive, and various other social-political reformations. The so-called public sphere (public meetings, lectures, etc., even the parlours of well-to-do families) was almost men-only spaces.
Therefore, this project is trying to locate the spaces or situations when women met to exchange ideas related to contemporary society, politics, etc. The theoretical point of departure for this study is Nancy Fraser's critique of Jurgen Habermas' idea of the Public Sphere.