Skip to main content
Article
Redeeming Indian ‘Christian’ Womanhood?: Missionaries, Dalits, and Agency in Colonial India
Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion
  • Chad M. Bauman, Butler University
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2008
Additional Publication URL
http://www.jstor.org/stable/20487924
Abstract

This study of dalit Christians in colonial North India suggests that women who converted to Christianity in the region often experienced a contraction of the range of their activities. Bauman analyzes this counterintuitive result of missionary work and then draws on the work of Saba Mahmood and others to interrogate the predilection of feminist historians for agents, rabble-rousers, and gender troublemakers. The article concludes not only that this predilection represents a mild form of egocentrism but also that it prevents historians from adequately analyzing the complexity of factors that motivate and influence human behavior.

Rights

This is a pre-print version of this article. The version of record is available at Feminist Studies in Religion.

NOTE: this version of the article is pending revision and may not reflect the changes made in the final, peer-reviewed version.

Citation Information
Chad M, Bauman. "Redeeming Indian ‘Christian’ Womanhood?: Missionaries, Dalits, and Agency in Colonial India," Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 24.2 (2008): 5-27.