Madhu Kishwar

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Madhu Kishwar
Born
1951


Occupation
Professor, Activist, Author



Madhu Purnima Kishwar is an Indian academic and a conservative commentator.[1][2][3][4] She is currently employed as a chair Professor in the Indian Council of Social Science Research. Kishwar along with fellow-academic Ruth Vanita co-founded the journal Manushi.

Whilst her earlier work in the domain were quite favorably received by the academia and fellow activists, her counterparts disassociated from her post the '90s, once she began to increasingly embrace the growing support for Hindutva.[5][6]Template:Efn

She has been awarded the Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Women Mediaperson in 1985.[7]

Early life and education

Kishwar graduated from Miranda House in Delhi,[8] where she was the President of the Student's Union.[9] She received her postgraduate degree in history from Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi.[9]

Career

She was a professor and a senior fellow[8] at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS),[10] until retiring in 2016.[11] Post her retirement, she asserted the institution of being a chaotic fiefdom of the chosen few and alleged the higher echelons of CSDS to be ideologically biased towards left, who treated her unfairly for years due to ideological differences, and supposedly, even robbed her of a legitimate government awarded scholarship.[12][11] The institute rejected the allegations, en masse.[12][11]

She then joined the Indian Council of Social Science Research as the Maulana Azad Professor.[8] In 2017, she was appointed to the Academic Council of the School of Art and Aesthetics of Jawaharlal Nehru University. The appointment was perceived to be politically motivated with her domain-expertise being questioned and students protested in large numbers.[13][14][15] Kishwar rejected the charges, describing them as whining of the leftist intellectuals, who were losing their clout. [Questionable Sources]

Manushi and feminism

Kishwar, along with Ruth Vanita, were the founding-editors of Manushi,[2][10] a highly acclaimed journal in the domain of women's studies in India.[8][16] Established to bridge the gap between academic discourse and popular activism by raising awareness of gender inequalities through ground-activism, it has been one of the longest-running and most-influential women's periodicals in South Asia to the extent of being heavily instrumental in setting the agenda for women-right-movements.[5] Manushi has been described by Amartya Sen as "a pioneering feminist journal".[17] Her books and miscellaneous writings in the topic area have been also quite favorably received.[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]

Notably, Kishwar does not self-identify as a feminist.[28][29] Kishwar's (self-proclaimed) reasons behind the disapproval of feminism aligns with that of the postcolonial feminist theory - perceiving liberal feminism as a monolithic western entity which discounts indigenous ways of life and actively incorporates a western framework.[5]

Anita Anantharam, an associate professor of Women's Studies at University of Florida, writing over Feminist Media Studies in 2009, deems Kishwar to subscribe to a brand of aggressively nationalist feminism that takes a highly holistic view of the local society, culture and traditions.[5] She notes that as the editorial board of Manushi thinned out over the years for varied reasons and the journal came under near-absolute stewardship of Kishwar, it chose to embrace the contemporaneous rise of the right-wing-nationalism through the realms of Hindutva.[5][30] This led to the introduction of religious and communal discourses into a hitherto secular and non-polarized space which vocally urged for a return to a golden atavistic past and amplified the "hierarchies of "East" versus "West", Indian womanhood versus western feminism, and Hindu versus Muslim identity" from the lenses of religion and ethno-nationalism.[5]Template:Efn

Kishwar has since criticized her fellow feminists urging for laws to prohibit the Hindu practice of Sati, instead focusing on the potential hampering of freedom to undergo death by a means of their choice and the implications of a secular state trying to regulate religious customs; she had also attacked other avenues of feminist activism from anti-dowry legislation to purported abolition of khaps and introduction of female quota bills, from within the Hindu way of life, arguing for a more nuanced and cultural approach, if at all.[5][31][32][33] Her views have been challenged and rejected by numerous other feminists.[33]

She was also one of the fiercest critics of the highly acclaimed film Fire, which focused a spotlight on the lesbian community in India.[34] Deeming that as ramblings of a self-hating-Indian that was meant to stereotype and vilify Hindus, she mocked the queer rights movements to be a Western import that went contrary to the ethos of Hindu public life and middle class values.[35][36][37][38]Template:Efn Gradually, in the process, she joined a newly evolving group of (self-proclaimed) Hindutva scholars in asserting of biases in the western (and marxist) scholarship of Indic religions and weaponed Manushi as a tool during the California textbook controversy over Hindu history et al.—Anantharam notes a heavy intermingling of Hindutva and her works by the middle 2000s.[5]

Anantharam goes on to note that almost all contemporary feminists have since disowned their roles in the magazine to avoid any association with this hyper-nationalistic cum Hindu fervor.[5]

Of late, she has been an often-vitriolic critic of the newer waves of the (allegedly) western-derived mainstream feminist movements in India; using pejoratives and expressing that these as fascist endeavors reeking of dominating and oppressing the male gender.[5][39][40][24][41] She had lodged legal petitions arguing for dilution of anti-rape laws to mitigate bias against males[42] and has been also highly skeptical of the motivations of foreign-funded NGOs working for the causes of women.[33] Some scholars have now come to recognize Kishwar as a former feminist who has since turned into an ally of anti-mainstream-feminist causes.[6]

Politics and fake news

Kishwar has been noted for her adulation of Narendra Modi, to the extent of comparing him with Mahatma Gandhi.[33][43][44][45][46] She had also written a book that absolved him, a then prime-ministerial candidate of any involvement in the 2002 Gujarat riots and praised him as a non-communal politician.[33][45][47] Incidentally she used to be a vocal critic of Modi.[45]

Kishwar has been accused by left-leaning media outlets of aiding in the propagation of allegedly communal material[4][48][49] and to have propagated fake news over numerous occasions, via her Twitter handle.Template:Refn

Works

  • In Search of Answers: Indian Women's Voices (with Ruth Vanita, Zed Books, 1984). Template:ISBN.
  • Gandhi and Women (Manushi Prakashan, 1986). Template:ASIN.
  • Women Bhakta Poets : Manushi (Manushi Publications, 1989). Template:ASIN.
  • The Dilemma And Other Stories (with Ruth Vanitha, Manushi Prakashan, 1997). Template:ISBN.
  • Religion at the service of nationalism and other essays (Oxford University Press, 1998). Template:ISBN.
  • Off the Beaten Track: Rethinking Gender Justice for Indian Women (Oxford University Press, 2002). Template:ISBN.
  • Deepening Democracy: Challenges of Governance and Globalization in India (Oxford University Press, 2006). Template:ISBN.
  • Zealous Reformers, Deadly Laws: Battling Stereotypes (SAGE, 2008). Template:ISBN.
  • Modi, Muslims and Media: Voices from Narendra Modi's Gujarat (Manushi Publications, 2014). Template:ISBN.[50]

Notes

Template:Notelist

References

  1. ↑ Madhu Kishwar's open letter to PM on how to break the UCC stalemate.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Shiney Ahuja, fallen Bollywood star, jailed for raping maid. The Guardian(31 March 2011).
  3. ↑ When a feminist turns right, Rediff.com, 2 April 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Digital hatred, real violence: Majoritarian radicalisation and social media in India, Mirchandani, Maya. ORF. Retrieved 2019-08-30.
  5. ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 East/West encounters: "Indian" identity and transnational feminism in Manushi. Feminist Media Studies({Template:Date).
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Impossibility of Marital Rape. Australian Feminist Studies({Template:Date).
  7. ↑ Prof. Madhu Purnima Kishwar.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Resume of Madhu Purnima Kishwar. Delhi University. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 I would like to sue Amartya Sen for defamation. The Telegraph(4 August 2013).
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Ashrams of Sex and Sleaze. Mail Today Template:Subscription required(7 March 2010).
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Madhu Kishwar Denounces 'Discrimination', CSDS Rejects Charge. The Wire. Retrieved 2019-08-30.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 I faced 'humiliation and discrimination' in the 'Left citadel' of CSDS, says Madhu Kishwar, Chakravarty, Ipsita. Scroll.in. Retrieved 2019-08-30.
  13. ↑ JNU faculty 'confused' by pro-Modi scholar Madhu Kishwar's appointment to Academic Council. Scroll.in. Retrieved 2019-08-30.
  14. ↑ Madhu Kishwar named to JNU Council, row breaks out over her status as an 'expert'. The Financial Express(2017-05-09). Retrieved 2019-08-30.
  15. ↑ Madhu Kishwar Has Been Nominated To JNU Council As School of Arts Expert, But Not Everyone's Happy. HuffPost India(2017-05-09). Retrieved 2019-08-30.
  16. ↑ Review of in Search of Answers: Indian Women's Voices from Manushi. Population and Development Review({Template:Date).
  17. ↑ The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture and Identity{{#if:Sen|, Sen}. Penguin(2006). ISBN 0141012110
  18. ↑ Review of Religion at the Service of Nationalism and Other Essays. Journal of Church and State({Template:Date).
  19. ↑ Review of in Search of Answers: India Women's Voices From Manushi. Off Our Backs({Template:Date).
  20. ↑ Book Review: Recommended for the Classroom. Women's Studies Quarterly({Template:Date).
  21. ↑ Review of Off the Beaten Track: Rethinking Gender Justice for Indian Women. The Journal of Asian Studies({Template:Date).
  22. ↑ Review of Man-Made Women: How New Reproductive Technologies Affect Women. Contemporary Sociology({Template:Date).
  23. ↑ Book review: Madhu Kishwar's 'Off the Beaten Track', Chatterjee, Manini. India Today(17 January 2000). Retrieved 2019-09-01.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Book Reviews : MADHU KISHWAR, Off the Beaten Track: Rethinking Gender Justice for Indian Women, Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1999, pp. 290. The Indian Economic & Social History Review({Template:Date).
  25. ↑ Book reviews and notices : MADHU KISHWAR, Religion at the service of nationalism and other essays. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998. xix + 323 pp. Notes. Rs. 495 (hardback). Contributions to Indian Sociology({Template:Date).
  26. ↑ Book reviews : In Search of Answers: Indian women's voices from 'Manushi' Edited by MADHU KISHWAR and RUTH VANITA (London, Zed Press, 1984). 288 pp. £6.95 paper. Race & Class({Template:Date).
  27. ↑ Book reviews and notices : MADHU KISHWAR, Off the beaten track: Rethinking gender justice for Indian women. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999. 290 pp. Notes, references. Rs. 495 (hardback). Contributions to Indian Sociology({Template:Date).
  28. ↑ Women in Modern India{{#if:Forbes|, Forbes}. Cambridge University Press(1996). ISBN 9780521653770
  29. ↑ Why I do not Call Myself a Feminist.
  30. ↑ [{{{url}}} Postcolonial Feminism/Postcolonialism and Feminism]. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd(2007).
  31. ↑ Women, Muscular Nationalism and Hinduism in India: Roop Kanwar and the Fire Protests. Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions({Template:Date).
  32. ↑ Quota Laws for Women in Politics: Implications for Feminist Practice. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society({Template:Date).
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 33.3 33.4 When a feminist turns right. Rediff. Retrieved 2019-08-30.
  34. ↑ The Mythology of Female Sexuality: Alternative Narratives of Belonging. Women: A Cultural Review({Template:Date).
  35. ↑ Love in the Midst of Fascism: Gender and Sexuality in the Contemporary Indian Documentary. Visual Anthropology({Template:Date).
  36. ↑ Fire, the BJP and moral society. South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies({Template:Date).
  37. ↑ Transgressive Sexualities: Politics of Pleasure and Desire in Kamasutra: A Tale of Love and Fire. Journal of Lesbian Studies({Template:Date).
  38. ↑ The controversy over 'Fire': a select dossier (Part II). Inter-Asia Cultural Studies({Template:Date).
  39. ↑ Gender justice and the feminazi. theweek.in. Retrieved 2019-08-30.
  40. ↑ Farewell flattery - Times of India. The Times of India. Retrieved 2019-09-01.
  41. ↑ Tainted Goods?: Western Feminism and the Asian Experience. Asian Journal of Women's Studies({Template:Date).
  42. ↑ Are India's anti-rape laws as draconian as Madhu Kishwar says they are?, Johari, Aarefa. Scroll.in. Retrieved 2019-09-03.
  43. ↑ Madhu Kishwar interview: 'It is hard to understand why Modi has not punished the scamsters', Gopinath, Vrinda. Scroll.in. Retrieved 2019-08-30.
  44. ↑ The Monologue of the Modi Mausi. Outlookindia. Retrieved 2019-08-30.
  45. ↑ 45.0 45.1 45.2 No communalism in Modi's DNA: Madhu Kishwar. Business Standard India(2014-04-03). Retrieved 2019-08-30.
  46. ↑ 10 Madhu Kishwar tweets that explain how difficult it is to remain a coherent Modi supporter. Scroll.in. Retrieved 2019-08-30.
  47. ↑ Five ways in which the Modi government has managed to disappoint Madhu Kishwar, Venkataramakrishnan, Rohan. Scroll.in. Retrieved 2019-09-03.
  48. ↑ The 'New And Improved' Love Jihad Formula. Outlookindia. Retrieved 2019-08-30.
  49. ↑ Zee sees 'conspiracy' against Hindus in Kamlesh Tiwari murder, News 18 goes after Pakistan, John, Rachel. ThePrint(2019-10-24). Retrieved 2019-11-10.
  50. ↑ Congress to blame for Godhra, says author Madhu Kishwar in her new book. The Times of India(6 April 2014).

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