Motherhood in the East-West Encounter

Pandita Ramabai's Negotiation of 'Daughterhood' and Motherhood

Bibliographic Data

ID5110020
AuthorsMeera Kosambi (corresponding author)
Year2000
Volume65
Issue1
Pages49-67
Publication date2000-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFeminist Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0141-7789 • E-ISSN: 1466-4380
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1080/014177800406930
OpenAlexW2036375363
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited14

The female East-West encounter often pivoted upon the motherhood role played by the representatives of the empire. This article aims to explore the complexities of the construction and enactment of this role. The analysis focuses on a cameo of triangular interpersonal relationships formed by Pandita Ramabai, an Indian Brahmin scholar who converted to Christianity in 1883 during her stay in England for higher studies, her little daughter Manorama who was baptized at the same time and Ramabai's spiritual mother, the Anglican Sister Geraldine who was deeply and possessively attached to Manorama. After situating motherhood in its international discursive context, the article examines the two tension-filled sets of motherhood and daughterhood inherent in this triad, with the help of Ramabai's published letters and correspondence which were compiled and edited by Geraldine (who made Ramabai's maternal inadequacies her dominant subtext) and of Manorama's unpublished letters to Geraldine, her 'grandmother'. The article argues that a British missionary nun's successful exercise of the motherhood role which she spontaneously assumed towards an Indian convert was contingent upon the convert's adherence to the racially and culturally inferior stereotype and unquestioning submission to the new faith as well as to colonial authority. Such conformity and acceptance alone allowed deep 'maternal' bonding (overlooking racial differences) which was too fragile to withstand any contestation or exercise of agency by the convert. The overarching patriarchal ethos of the Church, internalized by the missionary nun, was also a significant determinant of her treatment of the women converts in various ways

Agency (philosophy) · Christianity · Colonialism · Context (archaeology) · Ethos · Faith · Patriarchy · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Subtext · Theology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Gender Studies · History · Law · Marriage and Sexual Relationships · Philosophy · Religion, Gender, and Enlightenment · Religious studies