Girlhood in postcolonial India: redefining identities and contexts
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bristol
Department Name: School of Humanities
Abstract
Within India, boyhood proliferates narratives of childhood and girls are relegated to marginal,
unobtrusive roles. Until recently, girlhood has been defined negatively, possessing frivolous
connotations, against womanhood, and the Hindu Brahmin urban cis-male experience of
childhood is extrapolated as being the universal yardstick. It is this critical neglect that I wish to
address in my doctoral work.
My thesis will offer a nuanced portrayal of how Indian conceptualisations of identities of
girlhood were infused with contemporary, historically contingent notions of sexuality, religion,
caste and class. Shifting focus from Ashwini Tambe's legal study Defining Girlhood in India: A
Transnational History of Sexual Maturity Laws (2019) and physical issues surrounding the
demarcation from childhood to adulthood, but not omitting them, I would explore concepts of
feminist historiography and its engagement with empathy, intersubjectivity, cultural memory,
solidarity, and bodily memory (Hirsh and Smith, 2002) within the context of girlhood studies.
However, being aware of the limitations of extending "women's issues" onto the lives of girls
(Mitchell, 2006), I will cater to the nuanced demands of girlhood. Resisting literary-historical
narratives that reduce the girl-child in the psycho-social memory as 'an idiom of loss' (Krishnan,
2010) as she is meant to 'belong' to her marital home adhering to the patrilineal, patrilocal
family structure of India, I will focus on the newfound agency of the girl-child in lieu of
educational reforms, technological advancements, public engagements, and the development of
an affective community in online spaces. Although much has been said about the power
dynamics between the child reader and the author, and the text as a contentious site of
meaning-making by Jacqueline Rose, Jack Zipes and Peter Hunt among others, I believe it would
be worthwhile to reevaluate these theories within the locus of South Asian perspectives.
unobtrusive roles. Until recently, girlhood has been defined negatively, possessing frivolous
connotations, against womanhood, and the Hindu Brahmin urban cis-male experience of
childhood is extrapolated as being the universal yardstick. It is this critical neglect that I wish to
address in my doctoral work.
My thesis will offer a nuanced portrayal of how Indian conceptualisations of identities of
girlhood were infused with contemporary, historically contingent notions of sexuality, religion,
caste and class. Shifting focus from Ashwini Tambe's legal study Defining Girlhood in India: A
Transnational History of Sexual Maturity Laws (2019) and physical issues surrounding the
demarcation from childhood to adulthood, but not omitting them, I would explore concepts of
feminist historiography and its engagement with empathy, intersubjectivity, cultural memory,
solidarity, and bodily memory (Hirsh and Smith, 2002) within the context of girlhood studies.
However, being aware of the limitations of extending "women's issues" onto the lives of girls
(Mitchell, 2006), I will cater to the nuanced demands of girlhood. Resisting literary-historical
narratives that reduce the girl-child in the psycho-social memory as 'an idiom of loss' (Krishnan,
2010) as she is meant to 'belong' to her marital home adhering to the patrilineal, patrilocal
family structure of India, I will focus on the newfound agency of the girl-child in lieu of
educational reforms, technological advancements, public engagements, and the development of
an affective community in online spaces. Although much has been said about the power
dynamics between the child reader and the author, and the text as a contentious site of
meaning-making by Jacqueline Rose, Jack Zipes and Peter Hunt among others, I believe it would
be worthwhile to reevaluate these theories within the locus of South Asian perspectives.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Florian Stadtler (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Ayatika Nath (Student) |