Archiving the Nation –State in Feminist Praxis: A South Asian Perspective

This essay mainly examines the relationship between feminism and nationalism as a point from which it looks at South Asian feminist scholarship. The historical circumstances in their respective countries, have forced many South Asian feminists to interrogate their own nation states and the idea of nationalism .The writer looks at the interventions and scholarship in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. She also examines the feminist engagement in terms of political ‘practice’ with nationalism and the nation-state in India. Indian feminists have been critical of the class character of nationalism in the colonial period and of the post colonial Indian state. Some Indian feminists are responding with anger or anguish at the perceived failure’ of the women’s movement in taking a more forthright position against state repression.[CWDS OP]