The Sexual Life of English
Languages of Caste and Desire in Colonial India
1st Edition
Published on 2. May 2012
288 pages
978-0-8223-9529-4 (ISBN)
Description
Chandra explores how English became an Indian language during the colonial period of 1850-1930. Using archival and literary sources, she focuses on elite language education for girls and women.
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Book
05/2012
Duke University Press
€109.50
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Person
Shefali Chandra is Assistant Professor in the Department of History, the International and Area Studies Program, and the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program at Washington University in St. Louis.
Content
Note on Transliteration and Spelling ix
Part One
1. Learning Gender, Knowing English: An Introduction 3
2. "The Prudent and Cautious Engrafting of English Upon Our Female Population": Pedagogy and Performativity 29
3. "The Language of the Bedroom": Mimicry, Masculinity, and the Sexual Power of English 57
4. "A New Generation of Hipless and Breastless Women. To the Forefront in Europe and America": Literature, Social Class, and the Wider World of English 83
Part Two
5. "I Shall Read Pretty English Stories to My Mother and Translate Them into Marathi for Her": Widowhood, Virtue, and the Secularization of Caste 117
6. "Why Had I Ever Begun to Learn English?": Desire, Labor, and the Transregional Orientation of Caste 137
7. Dosebai Jessawalla and the "March of Advancement in the Face of Obloquy" 157
8. Epilogue: "I Am an Indian. I Have No Language": Parvatibai Athavale and the Limits to English 175
Salaams 191
Notes 195
Bibliography 245
Index 267
Part One
1. Learning Gender, Knowing English: An Introduction 3
2. "The Prudent and Cautious Engrafting of English Upon Our Female Population": Pedagogy and Performativity 29
3. "The Language of the Bedroom": Mimicry, Masculinity, and the Sexual Power of English 57
4. "A New Generation of Hipless and Breastless Women. To the Forefront in Europe and America": Literature, Social Class, and the Wider World of English 83
Part Two
5. "I Shall Read Pretty English Stories to My Mother and Translate Them into Marathi for Her": Widowhood, Virtue, and the Secularization of Caste 117
6. "Why Had I Ever Begun to Learn English?": Desire, Labor, and the Transregional Orientation of Caste 137
7. Dosebai Jessawalla and the "March of Advancement in the Face of Obloquy" 157
8. Epilogue: "I Am an Indian. I Have No Language": Parvatibai Athavale and the Limits to English 175
Salaams 191
Notes 195
Bibliography 245
Index 267
