Convictions and skepticisms of an Indian feminist scholar: an interview with Tejaswini Niranjana
Yifan JIANG
ABSTRACT In this interview with the Guangzhou-based newspaper Southern Metropolis Daily, conducted in December 2010 during her participation of the ‘West Heavens: India-China Summit on Social Thought’, Tejaswini Niranjana questions accepted notions about women and development, explains the reasons for finding alternative reference points in each other for non-Western societies, which resulted in the historical emergence of Cultural Studies in India, and speaks for the need for substantive mutual cultural exposure between India and China.
Keywords: Indian feminism, Muslim women, personal law, Uniform Civil Code, micro-credit, alternative reference points, alternative comparative frameworks, India, China, SHG, West Heavens, Chindia
Author’s biography
Yifan Jiang holds an M.Phil. degree in social anthropology, and has worked in journalism and the non-profit sector in Guagnzhou and Shanghai. He’s currently a coordinator of Modern Asian Thought project, a sister project of West Heavens.