Ebook: Fields of Protest: Women’s Movements in India
Author: Raka Ray
- Tags: Activism, Nonfiction, Gay & Lesbian, Specific Demographics, African-American Studies, Asian American Studies, Disabled, Ethnic Studies, Gay & Lesbian, Hispanic American Studies, Minority Studies, Native American Studies, Social Sciences, Politics & Social Sciences, Feminist Theory, Women’s Studies, Politics & Social Sciences
- Series: Social Movements Protest and Contention V. 8
- Year: 1999
- Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
- Language: English
- pdf
Fields of Protest explores the political and cultural circumstances under which groups of women organize. Starting with Bombay and Calcutta, Raka Ray discusses the creation of "political fields" -- structured, unequal, and socially constructed political environments within which organizations exist, flourish, or fail. In other words, women's organizations are not autonomous or free agents; rather, they inherit a "field" and its accompanying social relations, and when they act, they act in response to it and within it. Drawing on the literature of both social movements and feminism, Ray analyzes the striking differences between the movements in these two cities.
Using an innovative and comparative perspective, Ray offers a unique look at Indian activist women and adds a new dimension to the study of women's movements on a global level.