KALI FOR WOMEN

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Phone: +91-11-26521008,26864497,26514772
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The History of Doing;
An Illustrated Account of Movements for Women's Rights and Feminism in India, 1800-1990
by Radha Kumar

Cover Design by Ray+ Keshavan Design adapted from a drawing by Sujata Singh courtesy Katha, Delhi. All rights reserved: Katha, c/o Kali for Women.

A thematic history of the Women's movement in India both before and after Independence, this book covers the period from the nineteenth century to the present day. It looks at how women's issues were raised, initially by men and as part of the movements for social reform, and then with the involvement of women in the nationalist movement, by women themselves. Using photographs, old and new documents, excerpts from letters, books and informal writings, the author documents the growing involvement of women and the formation of the early women's organisations; she examines the foregrounding of the 'women's issue' during the reform and nationalist movements and its subsequent disappearance from the agenda of public debate until the post-independence period of the Sixties and Seventies when it surfaces again.

Key questions are raised regarding the nature of the contemporary movement, the kinds of issues (such as rape, dowry, environment, work, questions of identity) it has taken up, its directions and perspectives, its differences from western movements, the role of autonomous women's organisations and their relationship with political parties, especially those of the left.

Visually rich, this book provides a wealth of information in an easily written and accessible style and should appeal to a wide cross-section of readers.

Radha Kumar is a research scholar and activist. She has written and published widely in learned journals at home and abroad.

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Phaniyamma by M.K. Indira

Translated by Tejaswini Niranjana

M.K. Indira did not start writing until she was forty-five but achieved critical acclaim with the publication of her very first book, Tungabhadra.

She enjoys a wide readership among the Kannada speaking public and has received the Karnataka State Sahitya Academy award four times for her novels. The film version of Phaniyamma, directed by Prema Karanth with great sensitivity, has been nationally and internationally acclaimed.

Tejaswini Niranjana, who translated Phaniyamma from Kannada into English, teaches English Literature in the University of Hyderabad. A feminist academic she has published in many journals. Her recent publications include Siting Translation: History, Post-structuralism and the Colonial Context (University of California Press) and Coming Forth by the Day (Orient Longman), a translation of a major novel in Kannada.

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The Slate of Life;
an anthology of stories by Indian women

Cover illustration by Meera Dayal. Permission to use image should be directed to Kali for Women.

This selection of stories, by some of the most important and inventive contemporary women writers, is drawn from Malyalam, Assamese, Oriya, Urdu, Gujarati, Punjabi, Hindi, Bengali and English. Rich in regional flavour, each story offers us a glimpse into the everyday lives of Indian women, from the passionate political commitment of one, to the struggle to survive with dignity of her contemporary. Both live in the same place, at the same time, but their lives and experiences are remote, separated by class and background.

Thus the reality of each of the women in these stories is defined. Each one perseveres in inscribing her own destiny, creating a space for herself, and in doing so, touches upon the many nuances of a woman's being with delicacy, candour and obvious sincerity. In the process, the hypocrisy and prejudice of many of the codes we live by stand exposed, to reveal the individual power and poignancy of the women presented here. Long after we close the pages of this book, their voices continue to echo in our own beings.

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Recasting Women; Essays in Colonial History
edited by Kumkum Shangari and Sudesh Vaid

This collection of essays stands at an unarticulated conjuncture within the feminist movement and women's studies that have emerged in India since the 1970s. Political and social life in the country in the last decade has given rise to a variety of questions concerning the nature and resilience of patriarchal systems in a transitional and post-colonial society. The writers in this volume include scholars from various disciplines.

The essays in this anthology belong to two interrelated sets. The first seeks to analyse the patriarchal discourses of a colonial society and include an analysis of the shaping of Hindu-Aryan identity, the parameters of the discourse on widow-immolation, the 'defeminisation' of popular culture in the nineteenth century urban Calcutta, the nature of the reforms proposed by early women's journals in Hindi, the implications of the nationalist movement and of Indo-Anglian literature in middle-class patriarchal norms. The second set of articles relating to women of the productive classes includes the reconstitution of patriarchies in the agrarian transition in Haryana, in the Oudh peasant movement, in the armed peasant struggle in Telengana, and among the working class in Bengal.

The anthology thus attempts to explore the inter-relation of patriarchies with political economy, law, religion and culture and to suggest a different history of 'reform' movements, and of class and gender relations.

Kumkum Sangari and Sudesh Vaid are teachers of literature at Indraprastha College for Women, Delhi University. Together they have edited a collection of essays entitled Women and Culture (Bombay 1985) and done extensive research on widow immolation in Rajasthan. Kumkum Sangari has written on American and Latin American literature, literary theory and women's studies and is engaged in a project on literature and colonialism. She is Associate Editor of the Journal of Arts and Idea. Sudesh Vaid has published several articles and a book, The Divided Mind: Studies in Select Novels of Defoe and Richardson (Delhi 1979). She is active in the women's and civil liberties movements in India.

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Publishing for Social Change
RITU MENON & FLORENCE HOWE (eds)

Feminist Presses North and South

An international collection of writings by feminists publishers from all parts of the globe. Simultaneously a history of specific countries and publishers, the writers reflect on the link between publishing and social change. Contributors discuss publishing literacy materials and pamphlets, fiction and local titles, poetry and international rights sales, co-publishing and publishing for Women's Studies. These issues are discussed in the light of the changing needs of their times and communities.

Feminist presses have fostered change, not only in areas of social justice and politics, but also in expanding the possibilities of fiction and poetry. Visionary, political and commercial needs intersect in the histories of these women, these presses, these countries.

Ritu Menon is publisher at Kali for Women, based in Delhi, India. Florence Howe is publisher at the Feminist Press at the City University of New York.

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