My Studies Begin - Ramabai Ranade

The following note on 'My Studies Begin' by - Ramabai Ranade is prepared by Maria Thomas, Sriya Bhaskar and Ananya Rao of I year HEP.

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Background to the author:

The Late Smt. Ramabi Ranade - whose birth centenary was celebrated in India on January 25, 1962 - was born on 11^th January 1862. Her father had not taught her to read and write. Girls' education was a taboo in those days. As a little girl of 11 years she was married to Shri Madhav Govind Ranade, a pioneer in the social reform movement. He devoted all his apparel time to educate her in face of all the opposition of the woman of the house and helped her to become an ideal wife and a worthy helpmate in social and educational reform work. Ramabai made her entry into public life in the 1870s but it was after Justice Ranade's death in 1901 that she wholly identified herself with the cause of. tried to regenerate their souls. She visited the Lunatic Asylum and attended meetings of its managing committee. She went to see boys in the reformatory school, spoke to them and distributed sweets to them on festive occasions. Ramabai's philanthropic instincts knew no bounds. After his death she chose as her life work one of her husbands activities. Justice Ranade was a reformer and deeply interested in the uplift of Indian womanhood. Ramabi threw herself heart and soil into the Seva Sadan. She concentrated her whole energy upon it. The result is that the Seva Sadan has become an institution without a second of its kind throughout India." The Post and Telegraph Department feels honoured in paying a tribute to this great lady by bringing out a special postage stamp in commemoration of her birth centenary celebrated this year. Ramabai died in 1924

Summary:

This text describes the marital life of Ramabai Ranade who was married to a progressive, “reformist” justice, Mahadev Govind Ranade. Unlike most women at the time, she was encouraged by her husband to read and write and thus learnt both Marathi and English. This extract from her autobiography presents the conflicts that occurred between Ramabai and the other women in the household who, despite being educated in the same fashion, resent Ramabai’s education and often tease her. Ramabai also recounts an instance wherein she resented the decision of the women of the temple to exclude the wives of the reformists and thus left the temple, thinking she had made a good decision. The extract continues with the description of her husband’s dissatisfaction with that particular decision and their first disagreement.

Themes:

The extract deals with several themes –

1. Marital relationships – though unconventional, the relationship does display many concrete trends of regular relationships with the submissive wife who tends to her husband’s every whim. An important element of the marital relationship addressed here is that of the reformist relationship where Western-educated men encouraged their wives to be literate. This new dimension raises questions as to whether the status of women was really improved or not.

2. Women and the patriarchal society – the extract represents Ramabai’s conflicts with the other women of the household and this portrays the role of women in enforcing the patriarchal society. The rifts between women in the household suggests that it is the women who represent the more difficult hurdle in marital life, an aspect which is curious considering the accepted notion of the man being most restrictive.

3. Roles of women in society - there are conventionally elements of female responsibilities here, such as cleaning, cooking and serving, as well as the religious element with reference to the temple and the cunning of the non-reformist women. This theme raises to mind questions of whether the roles of women have changed at present from the fundamental roles established in the past.

Societal setting:

The story ‘My Studies Begin’ by Ramabai Ranade is set in colonial India. The traditions and customs of the people were more rigid than ever. Many men of that period were being educated in the west and they picked up the western ideas of equality and education for women. They were known as the reformists. Like Ramabai’s husband in this story, some men expected their wives to learn how to read and write. The wives had to do this in addition to the daily household work and they had to bear severe opposition from other members in the family.

The common misconception or superstition around that time was that if women were educated, they would be widowed very quickly. Therefore in order to safeguard their husband’s life they would have to remain illiterate. This was prominent along the same time as Sati and child marriage that were some social evils that people were fighting against. Though there were a few changes being brought about, not everyone welcomed these changes. The women married to progressive men had double the work to do in terms of studying and completing all the household chores on time. As joint family systems prevailed at that time, it was not easy for these women to study without facing ridicule from the rest of the family. Some women could not adjust to the constant criticism and refused to study further while some women adopted certain mechanisms to counter the treatment they received in the hands of other members of the family. Some women lashed out and showed their feelings openly to everyone while some women, like Ramabai, remained submissive and unresponsive. In the story, Ramabai feels that this attitude will discourage the other women and they would slowly stop their ridiculing but it was not always so.

Not only the women in the family, but the women in the society openly rejected the wives of reformist men. This we can see in the story when Ramabai and the other reformist women were not allowed to sit with the women but were made to sit with the men in the assembly hall. This was a great insult to the women which Ramabai could not handle. The uneducated women in society did not like that the reformist women discussed matters openly with men and “pretended” to be equal to them. The patriarchal values that were instilled in these women rebelled strongly against ideas like equality and they made life for progressive women very difficult. They were being pulled from both sides and had to satisfy the wishes of their husbands as well as society. Many women like Ramabai Ranade and Pandita Ramabai faced these obstacles bravely and managed popularize education for women all over India.

Further Questions:

1. To what extent have the roles of women changed from those that were established in Ramabai’s times?

According to our discussion, it was established that the roles of women have not changed from the fundamental ones established many years ago. The extract described Ramabai’s roles as cooking, serving food and tending to her husband’s needs and it is understood that even today women still continue with the same household duties. The only change has been the increase in the number of roles women have to juggle as not only must they run the household but some must also work in offices as well.

2. To what extent have the roles of men changed from those that have always been maintained in the past?

Strangely enough, our discussion established that the roles of men have indeed changed as men are now more likely to get involved in the household than they were in Ramabai’s times. Also, we touched upon many instances where the man has taken over the woman’s entire household responsibility and this suggests that there really has been some sort of transformation in the traditional mentality, even though these instances are rare.

3. Would a matriarchal society be more beneficial than our current patriarchal society?

The resulting discussion of this question cemented the fact that a matriarchal society would not be any better than a patriarchal society. Many of the males in our class did not favour patriarchy themselves and everyone agreed that a society where both genders are equal would be most beneficial.

4. Why is there rivalry between women, as displayed in this extract?

The class suggested that it was an ego problem that acted as a barrier between the older women and the younger women of a household, promoting the infamous rivalry between mother-in-laws and daughter-in-laws. In addition to this, the need to enforce superiority also appeared to be a key reason for the tension. Finally, the class decided that the older women feel that their relationship with the younger woman’s husband is threatened with the presence of this new woman in the household and this results in the conflict.

Summary of "What is Literature?" by Terry Eagleton

Terry Eagleton was a student of Raymond Williams, the famous theorist who published the book 'Keywords'. Eagleton does not straight arrive on his argument and state evidence to prove his statement. In stead he examines all the ideas proposed about Literature, all the definitions provided for the same, then gradually unpacks them and finally points out his problems with them. Towards the end he arrives at his own idea and tries to define what Literature is. Mr. Pinto suggested that students take this route of reasoning while writing their research papers so that they do not end up summarizing their own argument in the first paragraph itself and would be exhausted. Descartes also emphasized on the importance of doubt in order to attain knowledge.

Some of the immediate ideas that Eagleton throws in are following:
He first examines if Literature is imaginative fiction or just fact. Literature can't be just one of these because it spans from newspapers to philosophical treatises to novels and poems. While newspapers maybe purportedly reporting facts and daily happenings, one may wonder why so many newspapers exist to do the same work. Though the question and its answer cannot be so simple, one can see that readership of different newspapers is dictated by the interesting/informative/humorous nature of reporting which distinguishes each paper. Also, this definition of literature seems to exclude texts that transcend pure writing like manga or comic books.

Then he comes to the formalist argument about literature. Mr Pinto first briefly explained why the fascination with formalism. It is so because formalism tried to break away from the existing norm and resorted to examining the medium itself: language. The Formalist definition: Literature is organized violence committed on ordinary speech. This definition focuses on how for a text to be valued as literature, the importance is to write in a certain way and use a particular register. This can be marked as the linguistic turn in literature. Register in linguistic simply means a variety of language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. Looking at register as a "formality scale" and placing it in context of literature's formalist definition, we can say that when one shifted to using "very formal/printed word" language or "formal/archaic" words that were not used in ordinary conversation, the writing written so could be qualified as literature. Otherwise, as the signifier does not refer to the commonly known signified, for example, "thou unravished bride of quietness" (it is not necessary that the person is talking about the bride or it is not even necessary that the bride should exist). Formalists defy reference to such quasi mystical symbolism and draw attention to material reality. Formalists say that literature (poetry was particularly talked about) is not a vehicle for content/ideas because what is written could have been written by anybody else located in that time under those conditions. Preethi then asked, if this is not contradictory to the formalist argument of rejecting social background and its influence on the author's life and work. Mr Pinto agreed that it was indeed one of the shortcomings of the theory but even so, formalists paid more attention to the forms of writing like satire, allegory etc and explained that it is the nature of the form that makes the content what it becomes in the end.

Talking about estrangement, Eagleton says that if content is removed out of context and its own social reality, like Shakespeare read in today's time, it is estranged. One cannot comprehend it in context of social reality and it results in delayed gratification causing increase in interest. Thus, what is estranged might be sometimes qualified as literature. But this does not hold ground because even when misread/interpreted out of context, work does not cease to make sense completely because of the way people relate in their own ways to it irrespective of their social or chronological frames. So, we can say that literature has no "essence" or inherent common quality/ies across all the texts that are included in literature but rather something to do with the way the reader relates to it makes it literature. Mr. Pinto stated that Literature received its non-pragmatic license and special aura only after Romanticism.

But Literature cannot only be what people think it is because then everything will be literature. So, then literature is something that a particular group relates to for some reason and values it. What could be the possible reasons? Practicality/usefulness is not the reason because otherwise, Mill and Bentham would also be included in literature. The reasons change from time to time based on the values and concerns of that period. For example, Matthew Arnold emphasized on serious literature and Eliot did not regard Wordsworth as worthy of reading and brought in John Donne who until then was never considered. So, we can safely conclude with the help of the last paragraph of his essay that the preferences of people who are in a capacity to decide what constitutes literature are shaped by larger structures and value systems, those of class and other categories. We can also replace the larger preferences which can be classified into categories as ideology(?)

Eagleton concludes saying "

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON UNDERSTANDING & INTERROGATING "FOURTH WORLD LITERATURES"

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
ACHARYA NAGARJUNA UNIVERSITY
Nagarjuna Nagar
Guntur
Andhra Pradesh
India – 522 510

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON

UNDERSTANDING & INTERROGATING
"FOURTH WORLD LITERATURES"

7-9 SEPTEMBER 2009

Deadline for Abstracts: 10. 08. 2009

The Conference will cover the following areas: Native American Studies, Native Canadian Studies,Aboriginal Australian, Dalit, African & South African Studies. The term 'Fourth World' was coined by George Manuel and M. Posluns in The Fourth World: an Indian Reality (1974). This was further analysed in political terms by Noel Dyck in Indigenous Peoples and the Nation State: 'Fourth World' Politics in Canada, Australia and Norway (1992). The emergence of Native literatures such as Native American, Native Canadian, Aboriginal Australian, Maori New Zealandian and Dalit literature of India demands a scholarly probe into the evolution and consolidation of Fourth World people in socio, economic, political, literary and cultural aspects of life. The objective of the conference is to introduce and espouse Fourth World Identity that would interrogate the discourse of conventional epistemology. . Abstracts of Papers for presentation focusing on the above areas with inter disciplinary approach exploring diversity, multi culturalism, Inter Culturalism, History, Anthropology, Sociology & Economy of Natives/Aboriginals/Dalits/Africans/South Africans are welcome from colleagues all over the world. Abstracts should meet the approximate word account of 250-300. Abstracts may be submitted by email to the following address: derrida@rediffmail.com or derrida.derrida@gmail.com.
Registration Fee	:	Local Delegates: Rs. 600.
	:	Non Local Delegates: Rs.800
	:	Foreign Delegates: Rs. 5000
The Registration fee covers accommodation, Break fast, Lunch, Dinner, Snacks, Tea/Coffee for three days and the Conference Kit. The registration fee has to be paid through Demand Draft drawn infavour of Dr. Raja Sekhar, director International Conference payable at SBI ( Nagarjuna University Campus Branch No:4793), Nagarjuna Nagar. Guntur. *** Acharya Nagarjuna University is located in between Vijayawada & Guntur, the two popular cities in coastal Andhra Pradesh. The University is 17 K.M. from Vijayawada and 15 K.M. from Guntur. The nearest local airport is in Vijayawada and the International airport is in Hyderabad. The University is surrounded by world famous tourist places like Undavalli caves, Bhavani Island, Durga temple, Krishna barrage in Vijayawada. The world famous Buddhist site Amaravathi is 30 K.M. from Guntur. For mailing abstracts and inquiries: Dr. P. Raja Sekhar, Director, International Conference Dept. of English Acharya Nagarjuna University Guntur. India. 522510 Mobile : + 91 9704464829 Email : derrida.derrida@gmail.com, derrida@rediffmail.com Website: www.fourthworldlitt.in http://www.nagarjunauniversity.ac.in/engseminar.asp

Archive Research Contd....

How do we ensure objectivity in Research?
The Subjectivity/ Objectivity question in Archival Research.
A Work is said to be objective,
if the existing knowledge on the topic is reiterated,
if the new knowledge is expressed in existing modes of academic representation,
if the writing does not refer to subjective experience and the writing subject is seen detached, from the work,
if citations are given, a work is said to be objective.
Interestingly, computer has become a metaphor of objectivity!

Book to read : Derrida, Archival Fever
Cultural studies show that Theory is one way of performance.
The Concept of Archives
Archives do not seem to be part of oriental cultures. The museums are often filled with folklore artifacts and some tribal antiquities. Preserving historical documents have not been taken seriously in India. The very sense of Archive is found in wanting in this region. Looking at this scenario one can say that
The project of modernism is only half built in India.

Do's and don’ts of the archives
1. Unlike novel or poem, for a historian the documents are not intended for the eyes. The content is more important for him/her.
2. Read the archival documents lovingly.
3. You formulate the ideas after reading them not while reading.
4. You critique a text of history on the basis of a larger historical perspective, not on the individual stories written there.
5. The literature guys keep reading things neglected by other disciplines and vice versa. E.g. There is an interest in Shakespeare in other disciplines while in English Department it is les
6. Women studies have used the archival studies seriously. ‘My studies begin” the story of Justice Ranade’s wife is one such.
7. Archives are residues of modernity.
8. Museums and archives are the first building blocks of the nation states. Bombay National Musuem has letters from Afganisthan, Burma, Sri Lanka. The museum was the mark of a territory that belonged to the British. A Nation talks of its area, through its museums.
If there are no museums no nations????
9. Archives and museums are also instruments of totalitarianism. It registers, classifies, archives etc.... events and people. The state can do whatever it wants if the unique Identification Number is implemented on all citizens. This could be sometimes dangerous, threatening the citizens (persons) State is the perpetrator of the largest proportion of violence.
10. Who collects the data in the archives? It is important to ask questions like these? What are the ideological purposes that they serve?
11. It is important not to photocopy but transcript. These documents are precious.
12. Time management: organising
13. Read archival material with the clear idea that there is a lot more than what is available. All that we have got of the Greek literature is only 3-4 percent of the total. The great idea of the Greeks is formed from this small percentage. Think how much is lost.


The content is the class note of Jijo K.P. on Anil’s Lectures on Archval Research (Part II) for MA English II Yrs. On 30th June.

Video on the 'soul of India'

An amazing video on the 'soul of India'

Dicussion on Theatre

Discussion on Theatre Workshop

(MA II English, 16-17 May)

All the students shared their opinion on the workshop on theatre. Many students opined that the workshop helped them to come out of their inhibitions and stage fright.

Why should we learn acting if we are not interested in the field? Why did we introduce theatre in Literature? These were some of the questions that were discussed in the class on 16^th.

Mr. Pinto counter questioned why this question comes only about theatre studies and not other subjects. He clarified that Drama is a subject proper to English Studies or English Department. And the Department always maintained the opinion that the best way to teach drama is acting it although there are very few who actually try it out. The name is shifted from Drama to Theatre Studies because of its emphasis on practical. So it is important to undergo the process or theatrical workshop.

He also said that experience should be an important aspect of theoretical formulation where possible. English dept had long divorced the performative-experience of theatre from the study of plays.

When Drama/theatre, although originally part of English Department, was losing its significance in the discipline, comparative studies connected it with apparently unconnected discussions. The comparative study itself was a new way of keeping the old colonialism alive in academics.

Mr. Pinto also said that with an interest to make the paper more practical, there was a plan to involve Rangasangkara to teach this paper in the University. This was to fill one of the gaps in Indian universities. as they do not collaborate with actual practitioners of the art like Drama, although they are brought for short term lecturing.

Newer academic spaces also are yet to completely open up to this as they are concerned more with their brand name and identity which could be lost by involving other people regularly in their curriculum, he commented. Some universities are attempting to make innovations in the field of English Studies and Dramatics.

Notes by Jijo, II MA