Review of Sharmistha Dutta Gupta's "Identities and Histories: Women's Writings and Politics in Bengal" by Professor Aparna Basu in the JNU journal 'Studies in History'

"Sharmistha Dutta Gupta focusses on the writings of middle class Bengali women in six or seven literary and political journals between the 1920s and 1950s - 'Probasi', 'Saogat', 'Jayashree', 'Mandira', 'Ghare-Baire' and 'Swadhinata'. Each of these represented a different political ideology and the author explores how this influenced the policy of the journals and women's writing... the book reveals that women were not politically passive and that these journals contributed in creating political awareness and a space for women to debate and write on these issues which were not purely domestic."

Read the full review here:

Read the full review here:

Sharmistha Dutta Gupta, Identities and Histories: Women's Writings and Politics in Bengal, Stree, Kolkata, 2010, pp.294, Rs.700

                                                               

                                                           DOI: 10.1177/0257643013482407

When I first became interested in women's history in the 1970s, we, in India were still hunting for sources. Now, thirty five years later, scholars have come a long way. Those engaged in research have uncovered autobiographies, ( read the rest from the pages attached below)